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I 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


Deus  indc  ego'' — Horace,  Sat. 


THE  REAL  JAPAN 


« STUDIES  OF  CONTEMPORARY 
JAPANESE  MANNERS,  MORALS,  AD- 
MINISTRATION, AND  POLITICS 


BY  HENRY  '^NORMAN 


ILLUSTRATED  FROM  PHOTOGRAPHS  BY  THE  AUTHOR 


Hana  yori  dango" 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER’S  SONS 

743  AND  745  BROADWAY 
1892 


ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 


came  to  me  inljttt  toas  in  t!)e  lanD, — 

31  couln  not  separate  Ijer  from  its  floluers  5 
<g)I)e  toas  tntooPen  tott^  tlje  IjutJtJing:  Tjours 
cenjen  summer’s  natntp  leaferp  is  planneu. 

WSLe  Btooti  a nap  or  ttoo  on  frtenns^jip’si  Strann, 
ri5t)tlp  met  as  april  sun  anu  stjotoers  j 
'gjtje  came  to  me  tol^en  'Spring  toas  in  lann, — 
31  couin  not  separate  ^et  from  its  floiuers.” 


PREFACE. 


The  accessible  works  on  Japan  may  be  divided  into 
two  classes — large  and  elaborate  treatises  upon  the 
history,  geography,  monuments,  &c.,  of  the  country  ; 
and  superficial  narratives,  often  very  entertaining, 
of  the  personal  views  and  experiences  of  almost 
every  literary  luayfarer  who  has  crossed  the  Pacific, 
The  works  of  Rein  are  examples  of  the  former 
class ; every  subscriber  to  a circidating  library 
could  mention  a dozen  of  the  latter. 

No  writer  has  yet  given  an  account  of  the 
political,  economic,  educational,  and  social  con- 
ditions resulting  from  the  present  era  of  so-called 
''  Enlightened  Peace T Indeed,  the  progress  of  the 
Japanese  people  has  been  so  rapid  toward  civiliza- 
tion as  the  word  is  understood  by  Western  nations, 
and  the  ciystallization  of  this  into  actual  insti- 
tutions is  still  proceeding  so  actively,  that  it  is 
doubtfid  whether  such  a work  is  yet  possible.  Before 
the  atdhor  could  returji  his  proof-sheets  to  the 


lO 


PREFACE. 


p7nnter,  the  institutions  he  was  describing  would 
often  have  undergone  a vital  modification. 

The  present  essays  constihtte  an  attempt,  faute 
de  mieux,  to  place  before  the  readers  of  the  countries 
whence  Japan  is  deriving  her  incentives  and  her 
ideas  an  account  of  some  of  the  chief  aspects  and 
institutions  of  J apanese  life  as  it  really  is  to-day. 
Nothing  is  claimed  for  these  essays  beyond  honesty 
of  intention,  and  such  accuracy  as  personal  pains 
and  unusual  opportunities  can  afford.  My  state- 
ments are  based  upon  months  of  special  inves- 
tigation at  the  capital,  supplemented  by  visits 
for  the  same  purpose  to  Siberia,  Korea,  and 
Peking.  At  Tokyo  every  opportunity  for  study 
of  all  the  departments  of  Government  was  most 
courteously  afforded  me;  a Japanese  gentleman 
from  the  Civil  Service  was  placed  at  my  disposal 
as  translator  and  interpreter ; and  my  inquiries 
into  matters  outside  Govemiment  control  were 
made  easy  by  official  and  private  assistance. 

For  these  facilities  I have  to  express  my  great 
thanks  in  equal  measure  to  FI.  E.  Count  Ito, 
H.  E.  Count  Inouye,  and  H.  E.  Viscount 
Aoki.  To  Mr.  H.  W.  Denison,  of  the  Japa- 
nese Foreign  Office,  I am  indebted  for  much 
information  and  kind  assistance  from  his  intimate 
acquaintance  with  Japanese  affairs.  Most  of 
all,  however,  I am  under  obligations  to  my  friend 


PREFACE. 


II 


Captain  F.  Brinkley,  R.A.,  the  editor  and  pro- 
prietor of  the  Japan  Mail — obligations  I have  tried 
to  acknowledge  elsewhere. 

A number  of  these  essays  have  appeared  at 
different  times  in  newspaper  form  in  England 
(in  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  and  several  other 
journals),  the  United  States,  and  France.  Several 
are  new,  and  all  have  been  revised  and  extended. 
With  the  exception  of  three  negatives  kindly  placed 
at  my  service  by  Professor  W.  K.  Burton,  of  the 
Japanese  Imperial  University,  almost  all  the 
illustrations  are  from  photographs  taken  by  myself. 
I have  to  thank  Mr.  Joseph  Pennell  and  Mr. 
Geoige  Thomson  for  kind  and  accomplished  help 
in  making  a number  of  them  more  suitable  for 
mechanical  reproduction. 

H.  N. 

Aden,  October  19,  1891. 


CONTENTS 


AT  HOME  IN  JAPAN 

I. 

PAGE 

. 17 

JAPANESE  JOURNALISM 

II. 

• 35 

JAPANESE  JUSTICE 

III. 

. 59 

JAPANESE  EDUCATION 

IV. 

00 

JAPAN  AS  AN  EASTERN 

V. 

POWER 

. 107 

ARTS  AND  CRAFTS  IN 

VI. 

JAPAN  : 1. 

AMONG  THE  TOKYO 

ARTIFICERS 135 

VII. 

ARTS  AND  CRAFTS  IN  JAPAN  : II.  PAST  AND  PRESENT  . 1 53 

VIII. 


JAPANESE  WOMEN 


175 


14 


CONTENTS. 


IX. 

PAGE 

JAPANESE  JINKS 201 

X. 

IN  RURAL  JAPAN  I A RUSH  TO  A VOLCANO  . . *237 

XL 

THE  YOSHIWARA  : AN  UNWRITTEN  CHAPTER  OF  JAPANESE 

LIFE 275 

XII. 

JAPAN  FOR  THE  JAPANESE? 307 

XIII. 

THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN 335 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


“ DEUS  INDE  EGO  ” 

PAGE 

Frontispiece 

AT  HOME  IN  JAPAN 

21 

IN  MR.  MORIOKA’s  GARDEN  . 

25 

“good  afternoon!” 

29 

A GEISHA  DANCING — I. 

39 

CAPTAIN  BRINKLEY,  R.A. 

54 

A JAPANESE  POLICEMAN 

62 

A GEISHA  DANCING — II. 

73 

ON  THE  CONVICT  FARM 

77 

THE  PRISON  RICE-MILL 

81 

WAITING  FOR  THE  CONDEMNED 

85 

AN  OLD  WARRIOR 

109 

A GEISHA  DANCING — III. 

119 

JAPANESE  ARTILLERY.  — “ FIRE  1 ” 

129 

THE  ivory-carver’s  STUDIO 

142 

A GEISHA  DANCING — IV. 

165 

EN  DESHABILLE 

181 

AFTER  THE  BATH 


194 


i6 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS, 


A GEISHA  DANCING V. 

“she  has  retired” 

“miss  fate”  .... 

A TUNE  ON  THE  MOON-FIDDLE 
A CLASSIC  DANCE 
OUR  RUNNERS  AT  THE  WELL 
AT  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  PRECIPICE  . 

AFTER  THE  EARTHQUAKE 
A FAN  DANCE  .... 

A KASHI-ZASHIKI  .... 

A PROCESSIONIST  OF  YOSHIWARA  . 

THE  YUyO  

THE  VISIT  TO  THE  FLOWERS  OF  YOSHIWARA 
HACHIMONJI-NI-ARUKU  . 

A MATSURI  IN  YOKOHAMA 
ONE  ASPECT  OF  “THE  REAL  JAPAN” 

ALSO,  ILLUSTRATIONS  ON  PP.  1 9,  34,  37,  89,  106, 

152.  155.  177.  191.  '99.  203.  208,  236,  239, 
306,  337,  365. 


PAGE 

. 197 
. 205 
. 221 
. 227 
. 230 
. 241 
. 247 
. 260 
. 265 
. 269 
. 281 
. 287 
. 292 
. 299 

• 303 

• 342 

• 349 
1377  144, 
274,  277, 


I. 


AT  HOME  IN  JAPAN. 


2 


I. 


AT  HOME  IN  JAPAN. 

^HE  Japanese  house  is  the 
offspring  of  the  earthquake. 
It  is  light  and  flat,  and  never 
more  than  two-storeyed. 
High  and  heavy  buildings 
are  always  in  danger  in 
Japan.  Professor  Milne  has 
invented  an  earthquake- 
thwarting  method,  namely, 
to  interpose  a handful  of  large  round  shot 
between  the  corner  posts  and  the  founda- 
tions, thus  providing  for  free  oscillation.  This 
method  may  be  admirably  adapted  to  cure 
a real  earthquake,  but  it  has  the  effect 
of  creating  a succession  of  imaginary  ones, 
and  the  “ earthquake  thrill  ” is  too  precious  an 
emotion  to  be  vulgarized  by  such  mechanical 
limitation,  Fujisan  does  not,  indeed,  “ buck  like 


20 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


a mustang  ” here,  as  the  Arkansaw  man  said  his 
mountain  did,  when  the  earth  trembles,  but 
everybody  has  run  for  his  life  once  or  twice, 
and  several  people  have  been  surprised  to  see 
their  chimney  introducing  itself  into  their  bed, 
plunging  them  into  the  state  of  mind  of  the 
Irishman  who  exclaimed,  when  his  excited  horse 
caught  its  hind  foot  in  the  stirrup,  “ If  you’re 
goin’  to  git  on.  I’m  goin’  to  git  off!  ” The 
ceiling  in  the  billiard  room  of  the  Tokyo  Club 
is  bolted  to  the  walls  by  a network  of  iron  bars 
and  ties,  stretching  overhead  like  the  web  an 
antediluvian  spider  might  have  stretched  to 
catch  an  ichtheosaurus.  “ What  on  earth  is 
all  that  for?”  asked  an  astonished  visitor.  “If 
you  had  seen  the  cues  hopping  about  and  the 
balls  flying,  and  the  tables  doing  a double  shuffle 
round  the  room  two  months  ago,  while  the 
members  themselves  disappeared  like  rabbits 
through  the  windows,  you  wouldn’t  ask,”  was  the 
reply.  Yet  since  “ Earthquake  Milne  ” has  set 
traps  for  the  rumbler  (he  calls  them  “ Seismo- 
graphs ”)  the  earthquakes  seem  to  be  migrating. 
But  a little  one  caught  us  once  while  I was 
interviewing  a Minister  of  State,  and  rattled  the 
chandelier  overhead  in  a manner  that  caused  us 


AT  HOME  IN  lAPAN 


21 


secretary  to  look  at  the  door  and  say  “ Come 
in  ! ’'  I knew  in  an  instant  what  it  was. 

But  how  to  describe  a Japanese  house,  where 
nothing  is  like  anything  corresponding  to  it  at 
home  ? The  address — Kojimachiku,  Ichibancho, 
Sijiuniban — does  not  throw  much  light  on  it. 
From  the  outside  it  is  an  uninviting  big  black 


to  draw  back  simultaneously  to  see  if  we  had 
not  dropped  a handkerchief  under  the  chair,  and 
stopped  a Japanese  sentence  in  the  middle — a 
feat  which  nothing  less  than  an  earthquake  could 
accomplish.  It  was  of  no  use  for  the  private 


AT  HOME  IN  JAPAN. 


22 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


barn  ; inside  it  is  a spotless  doll’s  house  magnified 
a thousand  diameters,  all  wood  and  wicker  and 
white  paper.  The  entrance  hall  is  a platform 
raised  a couple  of  feet  above  the  ground,  where 
you  take  off  your  boots  if  you  are  a foreigner,  or 
leave  your  sandals  if  you  are  Japanese.  A screen 
door  slides  back  and  you  are  in — but  that  depends 
upon  circumstances.  Sometimes  you  are  in  one 
room  and  sometimes  in  another.  It  may  be  a 
general  sitting-room  fifty  feet  square  ; it  may  be  a 
bedroom  (if  you  call  early  in  the  morning)  ; or 
you  may  find  yourself  in  an  improvised  sanctum 
and  intruding  upon  somebody  writing  laboured 
descriptions  for  a far-away  public.  For  here  walls 
have  not  only  ears,  they  have  also  legs,  and  when 
you  wish  to  make  a new  room  you  simply  “ form 
square  ” by  sliding  enough  panels  in  their  grooves 
to  enclose  the  space,  or  at  your  pleasure  all  the 
rooms  can  be  thrown  into  one,  enclosed,  in  our 
case,'  by  forty-six  panels.  Those  forming  the 
sides  of  the  house  consist  each  of  sixty  little 
paper  panes.  To  wet  one’s  finger,  stick  it 
silently  into  the  window  and  peep  through,  is  thus, 
the  natural  Japanese  counterpart  of  Occidental 
surreptitious  inspection  by  the  keyhole.  The 
floor  is  of  mats  ; not  mats  strewed  about  as  at 


AT  HOME  IN  JAPAN. 


23 


home,  but  solid  structures  of  delicate  stuffed 
wicker,  an  inch  thick,  of  conventional  and  regular 
size,  let  into  the  floor, — elastic,  spotless,  immovable, 
never  profaned  by  even  the  daintiest  of  slippers. 
Chairs  and  tables  are,  of  course,  unknown,  and 
the  posture  of  repose  is  to  seat  oneself  on  one’s 
heels.  This  squatting,  by  the  way,  is  very  painful 
at  first,  and  like  the  blameless  dances  ” in 
‘ Ruddigore,”  “ takes  a deal  of  training.”  At 
meal  times  you  squat  anywhere  and  your  food  is 
placed  before  you.  When  you  are  tired  you  throw 
yourself  anywhere  on  the  floor,  with  no  fear  of 
spoiling  your  white  linen  suit.  When  evening 
comes  you  do  not  seek  your  bed  chamber,  you 
simply  make  it,  by  sliding  the  walls  round  the 
spot  you  have  chosen  for  your  slumbers.  The 
rough  and  ready  way  is  to  tread  around  on  the 
floor  till  you  find  a specially  soft  mat,  and  then 
lay  a few  walls  upon  it  for  a couch.  A more 
luxurious  one  is  to  have  a futon  or  thick  quilt 
spread  out,  and  roll  yourself  in  a rug  or  blanket 
upon  it.  The  chief  drawback  for  a foreigner  is 
that  his  hip-bone,  which  is  much  more  prominent 
than  that  of  a Japanese,  is  terribly  in  the  way  if 
he  has  not  learned  the  traveller’s  trick  of  ob- 
literating the  natural  projections  of  the  body. 


24 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


But  you  sleep  comfortably  in  spite  of  the  maraud- 
ing rat,  whose  immunity  from  attack  has  rendered 
him  equally  inquisitive  and  harmless,  and  in  the 
morning  when  you  return  from  the  bath,  bed  and 
bedroom  have  alike  disappeared.  It  is  the  story 
of  Aladdin  domesticated. 

The  bath,  again,  is  a new  experience.  Take 
an  enormous  oval  bucket,  holding  perhaps  fifty 
gallons,  with  a stove-pipe  running  up  inside  it. 
Fill  the  tub  with  water  and  the  pipe  with  red-hot 
charcoal,  and  when  the  temperature  is  a little 
short  of  boiling  point,  get  bodily  in  and  sit  down, 
and  you  have  a Japanese  bath.  In  most  cases 
the  next  step  is  to  get  out  again  with  amazing 
alacrity,  but  the  Japanese  sits  calmly  there  and 
perspires  till  he  is  parboiled.  Being  the  guest, 
I am  invited  to  enter  first,  while  the  entire 
household  stands  round  and  suppresses  its  amuse- 
ment. When  I emerge,  in  a fainting  condition, 
my  host  enters,  and  he  is  followed  in  turn  by 
the  five  servants  in  the  order  of  their  dignity, 
down  to  the  humble  “cook-boy.”  If  there  were 
any  ladies  resident  in  our  household  they  would 
take  their  turn  with  the  rest.  This  bath  is,  of 
course,  merely  to  open  the  pores.  One  is  not 
supposed  to  wash  in  it,  but  to  sit  quite  still. 


N Mr.  Mokioka’s  Garden. 


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A T HOME  IN  JAPAN. 


27 


Soaping  follows  for  the  foreigners  and  rubbing 
for  the  others,  and  the  cold  douche.  The  pro- 
cess when  completed  is  delicious,  cleansing,  and 
invigorating,  and  far  ahead  of  the  simple  “ cold 
tub  of  the  Englishman  at  home  and  abroad. 

Behind  every  Japanese  house,  however  small 
or  humble,  there  is  a garden,  though  it  is  given 
to  few  to  have  one  like  that  here  shown,  Mr. 
Moriokas  at  Honjo,  where  I received  such  never- 
to-be-forgotten  hospitality.  In  ours,  there  are 
the  huge-leaved  palms,  the  pleasant  shady  maples, 
the  amusing  bamboo,  and  a host  of  shrubs  with 
odd  and  gaudy  blossoms.  Colossal  bumble-bees 
go  rumbling  round ; there  is  always  a pair  of 
brilliant  broad-winged  butterflies  dancing  to- 
gether ; and  every*  now  and  then  one  of  the 
great  half-tame  scavenging  crows,  of  which  there 
are  hundreds  of  thousands  not  only  tolerated  but 
protected  in  Japan,  puts  his  coal-black  head  right 
into  the  room  where  we  are  sitting  and  salutes  us 
with  his  hoarse  and  comical  “Ah!”  But  the 
bamboo  is  the  funniest.  One  morning  we  discern 
a tiny  pointed  green  shoot  in  the  grass.  By 
evening  it  is  well  above  the  ground.  In  twenty- 
four  hours  it  would  make  a respectable  walking 
stick,  and  if  you  should  be  so  ill-advised  as  to 


28 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


hang  your  hat  on  it  at  night  you  could  not  reach 
it  next  morning,  and  would  have  either  to  sacrifice 
the  enterprising  bamboo  or  to  be  satisfied  to  see 
your  head-covering  gradually  disappear  in  the 
clouds. 

When  guests  arrive,  say  for  dinner,  the  polite- 
ness of  paradise  is  turned  loose.  With  great 
apparent  hesitation  they  enter,  bowing  low  with 
their  hands  on  their  knees  if  they  are  men,  or 
dropping  on  their  knees  and  touching  their 
foreheads  almost  to  the  ground  if  they  are  ladies. 
The  first  Japanese  salutation  corresponds  exactly 
to  the  Norwegian  “ Tak  for  sidst,” — “ Thank 
you  for  the  pleasure  I had  the  last  time  I met 
you.”  This,  however,  is  but  the  merest  be- 
ginning of  Japanese  greeting.  A conversation 
something  after  this  style  ensues  : — 

“ I beg  your  pardon  for  my  rudeness  on  the  last 
occasion-.” 

“How  can  you  say  such  a thing  when  it  was  I 
who  failed  to  show  you  due  courtesy  ? ” 

“ Far  from  it  ! I received  a lesson  in  good 
manners  from  you.” 

“ How  can  you  condescend  to  come  to  such  a 
poor  house  as  this  ” 

“How  can  you,  indeed,  be  so  kind  as  to  receive 


AT  HOME  IN  JAPAN. 


29 


such  an  unimportant  person  as  myself  under  your 
distinguished  roof?” 

All  this  punctuated  with  low  bows  and  the 
sound  of  breath  sucked  rapidly  in  between  the 
teeth,  expressive  of  great  empressement.  At  last, 
amid  a final  chorus  of  Arigato,  the  guests  come 
to  anchor  upon  the  floor.  Various  objects  are 


“ GOOD  AFTERNOON  ! ” 


handed  to  them  to  entertain  them,  a curio  or  two, 
a few  photographs,  anything,  no  matter  what,  for 
it  is  de  rigueitr  in  Japanese  etiquette  to  affect  a 
great  interest  and  admiration  on  such  occasions. 

Then  dinner  begins  (I  am  describing  now,  of 
course,  the  hospitality  we  receive,  rather  than 
that  which  it  is  in  our  power  to  extend)  with  the 


30 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


production  of  a lacquer  tray  on  which  is  a small 
bowl  of  the  same  material  filled  with  soup  and 
fish — a species  of  bouillabaisse.  Having  drunk 
the  soup  out  of  the  bowl,  you  eat  the  fish  with 
your  chop-sticks.  It  is  an  error,  by  the  way,  to 
suppose  that  it  is  difficult  to  acquire  the  use  of 
this- Oriental  knife  and  fork.  Nothing  is  easier. 
After  the  fish  comes  a lacquer  dish  with  four  or 
five  little  heaps  of  food  on  it — a puree  of  chest- 
nuts, a salmi  of  some  small  bird  or  wild-fowl, 
a few  boiled  lily-roots,  and  a mess  of  stewed 
seaweed.  With  the  chop-sticks  a small  portion 
of  each  of  these  is  lifted  in  epicurean  alternation. 
Now  sake  is  produced  in  a porcelain  or  silver 
bottle,  with  a bowl  of  water  and  a number  of  tiny 
cups,  each  holding  a tablespoonful.  Sake  re- 
sembles dry  sherry,  and  is  always  served  warm. 
You  never  help  yourselves  to  sake,  but  the 
servants — usually  girls — squatting  in  an  outer 
ring  round  the  diners  (everybody  being,  of  course, 
on  mats  on  the  floor)  take  care  that  your  cup 
is  always  full.  The  Japanese  version  of  “ A glass 
of  wine  with  you,  sir,”  is  peculiar.  You  empty 
your  cup,  plunge  it  into  the  bowl  of  clean  water, 
move  off  your  mat,  and  after  touching  the  cup 
to  your  forehead,  offer  it  upon  your  open  palm, 


AT  HOME  IN  JAPAN. 


31 


and  with  a low  bow  to  the  person  you  desire  to 
toast.  He  receives  it  in  the  same  manner,  with 
an  expression  of  appreciation,  and  the  servant 
immediately  fills  it  for  him.  A few  minutes  after- 
wards he  returns  it  with  similar  ceremony.  With 
the  actual  drinking  there  is  no  sentiment  whatever 
in  Japan — no  “Good  health!”  as  with  us,  no 
“ A la  votre  ! ” no  “ Prosit ! ” no  “ Skaal ! ” — the 
ceremony  begins  and  ends  with  the  passing  of 
the  cup.  Nor  is  there  any  of  the  valour  of  those 
who  “gloried  and  drank  deep  you  drink  often 
in  Japan  ; it  is  impossible  to  drink  deep  in  an 
inch  of  liquor.  With  the  valour,  disappear,  too, 
all  such  legends  and  poetry  as  have  clustered 
about  King  Olaf s drinking-horn  and  the  Teutonic 
Becher  ” and  the  more  gentle  Anglo-Saxon 
“ Loving  Cup.”  And  finally,  the  teetotaler  may 
not  set  a gain  in  sobriety  over  against  the  loss 
in  valour  and  in  verse.  It  is  just  as  easy  to  get 
tipsy  out  of  a teaspoon  as  out  of  a flagon,  and 
much  more  humiliating.  In  fact,  drinking  as  an 
heroic  exercise  is  not  without  its  votaries  in  Japan. 
I have  just  read  in  a Japanese  newspaper  that  in 
Kyoto  last  year  a number  of  confirmed  topers 
formed  themselves  into  a society  which  they 
styled  The  Kyoto  Sakenomi  Kai  ” (Sake- 


32 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


drinkers’  Association.)  One  of  the  rules  states 
that  an  absolutely  essential  qualification  for  mem 
bership  is  the  ability  to  consume  at  least  three 
sho  of  sake  at  a sitting,  and  this  test  has  been 
most  conscientiously  fulfilled  by  the  twenty-three 
members.  A resident  of  Kyoto  applied  for  ad- 
mission the  other  day,  and  proved  himself  worthy 
of  a high  place  among  the  brotherhood  by  drink- 
ing  eight  sho  of  sake  (sufficient  to  fill  about 
twenty  quart  bottles)  during  the  initiation  cere- 
monies. There  is  talk  of  electing  him  president 
of  the  society. 

So  far  the  Japanese  dinner  is  excellent.  At 
the  next  course,  however,  most  foreigners  cry  halt. 
Upon  a tiny  wire  gridiron  appear  several  pink 
and  white  morsels,  accompanied  by  various  Lilli- 
putian salads  and  a good-looking  sauce.  These 
are  raw  fish,  exquisite  in  appearance  but  execrable 
in  the  mouth.  After  them  come  cakes  of  many 
kinds,  and  tea,  and  finally,  when  you  wish  to 
retire  you  give  the  signal  by  asking  for  rice.  I 
should  have  said  that  the  “ tobacco  bon,”  a box 
containing  a small  brazier,  a Japanese  pipe,  and 
a section  of  bamboo  serving  the  unpleasantly 
conspicuous  purpose  of  combined  ash-receptacle 
and  spittoon,  is  brought  in  at  an  early  stage,  and 


AT  HOME  IN  JAPAN 


33 


even  when  ladies  are  present  you  can  smoke  as 
many  pipes  of  the  mild  and  aromatic  Japanese 
tobacco,  each  consisting  of  two  whiffs,  as  you 
please.  The  feast  is  prolonged  by  ceaseless  con- 
versation, a thousand  jests  at  which  everybody 
roars  with  laughter,  and  an  endless  series  of 
mutual  compliments.  Delicate  in  form  and  in 
substance,  characterized  by  infinite  kindliness  and 
merriment,  subject  to  strict  and  immemorial  rules, 
a Japanese  dinner  is  typical  of  the  Japanese 
people.  Most  foreigners  are  delighted  with  it  as 
a novel  experience,  and  hasten  to  supplement  it 
with  a beefsteak  or  a dish  of  poached  eggs. 

One  invariable  accompaniment  to  such  an 
entertainment  I have  purposely  omitted  to 
mention — the  geisha,  or  girl-musicians,  who 
appear  during  dinner  and  dance  to  the  samisen 
and  the  biwa  and  ni-gen-king.  Tiny  creatures 
of  fairyland  they  are,  so  exquisitely  dressed, 
so  wonderfully  coiffees,  so  pretty  and  graceful 
and  clever  and  full  of  fun,  true  visitors  from 
Oriental  wonderland.  These  and  their  like  de- 
mand at  least  a chapter  to  themselves. 

Dinner  brings  the  Japanese  day  to  a close. 
The  guests  rise  from  their  mats,  and  steal  away, 
not  silently  by  any  means,  and  as  ceremoniously 


34 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


as  they  entered.  When  the  last  pair  of  sandals 
has  been  resumed,  and  the  last  jinrikisha  has 
whirled  away,  our  servants  slide  the  heavy 
shutters  into  their  places  all  round  the  house,  in 
a trice  bedrooms  and  beds  appear,  and  from  the 
waking  dream  of  being  “At  Home  in  Japan” 
one  passes  by  an  easy  transition  into  that  land  of 
other  dreams  where  alone  every  wanderer  is  in 
truth  at  home,  however  many  thousand  leagues 
of  sea  and  land  divide  him  from  what  he  loves. 


II. 

JAPANESE  JOURNALISM. 


3 


II. 

JAPANESE  JOURNALISM. 

XHE  watch-dogs  of  civiliza- 
tion sleep  with  one  eye  open 
in  Japan,  as  well  as  in  Fleet 
Street  or  Broadway,  and  it 
is  fast  becoming  true  that 
“ there’s  not  a place  where 
man  may  dwell,”  but  the 

interviewer  dwells  there 
too.  Four  interviewers  for 

the  vernacular  press  called  upon  me  before 

I had  been  forty -eight  hours  on  Japanese 
soil,  and  when  I succumbed,  after  vainly  plead- 
ing privilege,  it  was  to  find  that  the  alert- 
minded  Japanese  has  simply  taken  the  American 
system  of  interviewing  and  reduced  it  to  its 

simplest  terms,  not  to  say  ad  absurdimt.  With 
him  interviewing  is  strict  business  from  the  start, 
like  pulling  a tooth  or  boring  a hole,  and  he 


38 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


wastes  no  time  like  his  trans- Pacific  archetype 
over  pleasant  introductory  remarks  about  the 
weather  or  your  voyage.  The  operation  is  as 
follows.  You  receive  a card  bearing  a series  of 
cabalistic  marks,  and,  uncertain  whether  your 
visitor  is  a Minister  of  State  or  a guide  in  want 
of  a job,  you  go  downstairs  and  discover  a dapper 
little  gentleman,  in  appearance  about  nineteen, 
dressed  in  faultless  foreign  fashion,  tennis-shoes, 
flannel  trousers,  white  waistcoat,  blue  coat,  flowing 
necktie,  spectacles  and  pith-helmet,  and  speaking 
English  with  the  accuracy  and  impressiveness  of 
a copy-book.  “ Good  morning.  Are  you  Mr. 
Blank  “Good  morning.  I am.”  “I  am  the 
reporter  of  the  So-and-so  newspaper  of  Tokyo. 
Will  you  permit  me  to  interview  you?”  “With 
pleasure.”  The  interviewer  then  takes  a seat, 
produces  a note-book  and  pencil,  and  begins  with 
the  directness  of  a census-taker.  “ How  old  are 
you,  and  where  were  you  born  ? ” And  when  I 
tell  him  that  I was  born  of  poor  but  respectable 
parents  ” in  the  year  one,  let  us  say,  he  gravely 
commits  the  unfamiliar  phrase  to  paper.  “ How 
long  will  you  stay  ? — how  long  since  you  started  ? 
— where  have  you  been? — how  do  you  like 
Japan  ? — what  do  they  think  of  Japan  in 


A Gas/ia  Dancing. — I. 


{An  Instantaneous  Photograph.') 


JAPANESE  JO  UP  NAZISM.  4 1 

England  ? — what  is  it  expected  will  become  of 
Korea  ? — will  there  be  war  between  England 
and  Russia  ?— will  Ireland  get  Home  Rule?” 
— these  were  all  among  the  questions  he  pressed 
upon  me  with  the  relentless  persistence  of  a pile- 
driver.  At  last,  when  I had  been  compelled  to 
draw  liberally  upon  my  imagination  for  my  facts, 
and  the  note-book  of  the  enemy  of  travelling 
mankind  was  full,  I supposed  that  the  interview 
was  over.  Nothing  could  have  been  further  from 
the  interviewer’s  idea.  He  settled  himself  in  his 
chair,  re-sharpened  his  pencil,  produced  a new 
note-book,  and  said,  “If  anything  of  interest  has 
ever  befallen  you  upon  your  travels,  please  give 
me  full  informations  now.”  This  was  too  much, 
and  when  I said  to  him  as  he  was  going,  “If  you 
do  me  the  favour  of  sending  me  a copy  of  the 
So-and-so  containing  this  interview,  will  you  be 
kind  enough  to  put  a mark  upon  it  so  that  I 
may  know  which  is  the  right  way  upwards,”  I 
thought  a twinkle  in  his  eye  showed  it  was 
dawning  upon  him  at  last  that  to  cross-question 
a solitary  and  ill-informed  individual  upon  the 
policies  of  all  nations  and  the  details  of  his  own 
obscure  life,  was  really  a huge  joke.  But  I had 
my  doubts  again  afterwards  when,  sure  enough,  I 


42 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


received  an  extraordinary  looking  newspaper  with 
“top”  solemnly  written  on  one  side  of  it. 

Japanese  interviewing,  however,  like  interview- 
ing elsewhere,  frequently  renders  a service  to  the 
community,  for  ministers  of  state,  even,  and  many 
less  important  personages,  are  not  averse  to 
making  their  views  known  on  occasion  in  this 
way.  But  journalism  has  come  with  a rush  in 
Japan,  and  there  are  at  the  present  time  too 
many  newspapers  for  any  one  of  them  to  have  the 
circulation  and  therefore  the  means  to  become  as 
influential  and  as  enterprising  as  the  great  jour- 
nals of  Europe  and  America.  In  the  whole  of 
Japan  there  are  no  fewer  than  550  newspapers  and 
periodicals,  and  in  the  capital  of  Tokyo  alone  there 
are  seventeen  political  dailies,  with  a combined 
monthly  circulation  of  3,906,000,  and  116  periodi- 
cals, circulating  together  495,000  copies.  With 
such  competition,  circulations  are  of  course  very 
small,  the  largest  in  Tokyo,  whichever  newspaper 
has  it,  being  probably  not  much  over  10,000 
copies,  half  of  them  sold  in  the  city  itself,  and 
half  in  the  villages  around  and  other  towns.  ^ 

^ An  official  statistician  gives  95,932,270  as  the  number  of 
copies  of  “Journaux  et  diverses  brochures  publiees  ” in  the 
whole  of  Japan  during  1887. 


JAPANESE  JOURNALISM. 


43 


A Japanese  newspaper  is  a very  different  thing 
from  what  we  are  accustomed  to  find  on  our 
breakfast  tables.  Our  last  page  is  its  first  ; its 
columns  only  run  half  the  length  of  the  page  ; it 
has  no  such  thing  as  head  lines  or  “scare  heads,” 
and  its  titles  run  from  top  to  bottom  instead  of 
across  ; it  has  but  a few  rough  illustrations  ; it 
prints  few  advertisements,  but  those  are  paid  for 
at  a comparatively  high  rate ; its  price  is  low, 
ranging  from  one  to  two  cents  a copy  and  from 
25  to  50  cents  a month  ; and  it  knows  nothing 
yet  of  sensational  advertisements,  or  flaming 
posters,  or  deeds  of  journalistic  “ derring  do.” 
In  general,  its  scale  is  much  more  that  of  the 
French  newspaper  than  the  world-moving  mon- 
sters of  London  and  New  York.  The  only 
evidence  of  it  that  one  sees  in  the  streets  is  the 
newsman,  either  a lank  and  lean  middle-aged  man 
or  else  a boy,  clad  in  meagre  cotton  clothes, 
trotting  along  with  a bundle  of  neatly  folded 
papers  under  his  arm  and  announcing  his  passage 
by  the  incessant  tinkling  of  a little  brass  bell  tied 
to  his  waistband  behind. 

The  internal  organization  of  a newspaper  office 
is  a sad  spectacle  of  daily  struggle  with  difficulties 
unknown  elsewhere  and  really  unnecessary  here. 


44 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


The  Japanese  written  and  printed  character 
consists  of  the  Chinese  ideographs,  those  com- 
plicated square  figures  made  up  of  an  apparent 
jumble  of  zig-zags  and  crosses  and  ticks  and 
triangles  and  tails — “ the  footprints  of  a drunken 
fly” — and  of  the  original  Japanese  syllabary, 
called  kana.  Of  the  former  there  are  20,000 
in  all,  of  which  perhaps  14,000  constitute  the 
scholars’  vocabulary,  and  no  fewer  than  4,000 
are  in  common  daily  use ; while  the  forty-seven 
simple  character  of  kana  are  known  to  everybody.^ 
Therefore  the  Japanese  compositor  has  to  be 
prepared  to  place  in  his  stick  any  one  of  over 
4,000  different  types — truly  an  appalling  task. 
From  the  nature  of  the  problem  several  con- 
sequences naturally  follow.  First,  he  must  be  a 
good  deal  of  a scholar  himself,  to  recognize  all 
these  instantly  and  accurately ; secondly,  his 
eye-sight  suffers  fearfully,  and  he  generally  wears 
a huge  pair  of  magnifying  goggles  ; and  third,  as 
it  is  physically  impossible  for  any  one  man  to 

^ As  an  example  of  the  combined  intricacy  and  formality 
of  the  Japanese  language,  a Tokyo  newspaper  recently  calcu- 
lated that  in  the  Department  of  Justice  alone  seventy- five 
working  days  were  consumed  annually  in  writing  one  honorific 
prefix  in  official  correspondence.  This  prefix  has  now  been 
abolished  except  in  letters  addressed  to  the  Court. 


JAPANESE  JOURNALISM. 


45 


reach  4,000  types,  a totally  different  method  of 
case  arrangement  has  to  be  devised.  The 
“ typo,”  therefore,  of  .whom  there  are  only  three 
or  four  on  a paper,  sits  at  a little  table  at  one  end 
of  a large  room,  with  the  case  containing  his  forty- 
seven  kana  syllables  before  him.  From  end  to  end 
of  the  room  tall  cases  of  type  are  arranged  like 
the  shelves  in  a crowded  library,  a passage  three 
feet  wide  being  left  between  each  two.  The 
compositor  receives  his  “copy”  in  large  pieces, 
which  he  cuts  into  little  “ takes,”  and  hands  each 
of  these  to  one  of  half  a dozen  boys  who  assist 
him.  The  boy  takes  this  and  proceeds  to  walk 
about  among  the  cases  till  he  has  collected  each 
of  the  ideographs,  or  square  Chinese  picture- 
words,  omitting  all  the  kana  syllables  which 
connect  them.  While  these  boys  are  thus 
running  to  and  fro,  snatching  up  the  types  and 
jostling  each  other,  they  keep  up  a continual 
chant,  singing  the  name  of  the  character  they 
are  looking  for,  as  they  cannot  recognize  it  till 
they  hear  its  sound,  the  ordinary  lower-class 
Japanese  not  understanding  his  daily  paper 
unless  he  reads  it  aloud.  When  a boy  has 
collected  all  the  square  characters  of  his  “take,” 
he  lays  them  upon  it  by  the  side  of  the  com- 


46 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


positor,  who  sets  them  up  in  proper  order  in  his 
composing-stick,  adding  the  connecting  kana 
from  the  case  before  him.  Then  a proof  is 
pulled,  as  with  us,  and  taken  to  two  proof- 
readers,^ one  of  whom  sings  the  “ copy  ” aloud 
to  the  other.  A .Japanese  composing-room  is 
thus  a scene  of  bustle  and  noise  and  laughter 
and  weird  noises,  the  only  serious  figure  being 
the  long-haired  “ typo,”  seated  afar  off  by  himself 
and  poring  over  his  wretched  spider-web  letters 
like  some  old  entomologist  with  a new  beetle 
under  his  microscope.  The  “ making  up  ” and 
stereotyping  is  like  that  of  old-fashioned  offices 
at  home,  and  the  paper  is  printed  upon  flat 
presses  fed  by  hand.  The  total  number  of 
persons  employed  on  a typical  Japanese  news- 
paper, say  the  NicJii  Nichi  Sliimbun,  is  as 
follows  : — One  political  director,  one  chief  editor, 
five  assistant  editors,  four  proof-readers,  one 
shorthand  - writer,  twelve  reporters  or  news 
gatherers,  three  or  four  compositors,  each  with 
several  assistants,  twelve  men  in  the  press-room, 
and  minor  employes^  including  distributors,  making 
a total  of  150  persons.  The  reporters  are  the 
\yeak  point,  for  the  editor  frankly  tells  you  that 
if  they  cannot  find  news  they  are  compelled  to 


JAPANESE  JOURNALISM. 


47 


bring  home  fiction,  as  they  are  paid  by  results, 
and  even  then  they  do  not  often  earn  more  than 
;^2  or  ;^io  a month.  They  therefore  deliberately 
invent  a large  part  of  their  news.  For  example, 
a few  months  ago  almost  all  the  vernacular  news- 
papers published  long  and  circumstantial  harrow- 
ing accounts  of  the  eruption  of  Zoozan,  a small 
mountain  in  the  province  of  Bingo,  and  the 
foreign  press  copied  them,  the  whole  affair  being 
a myth.  During  my  own  stay  the  vernacular 
press  had  fifty  items  of  news  about  my  move- 
ments, of  ludicrous  inaccuracy.  So  untrustworthy, 
indeed,  is  the  reporter  that  an  assistant  editor  is 
always  sent  when  anybody  of  importance  desires 
or  is  invited  to  be  interviewed.  A reporter  of 
the  Tokyo  Shimpo  once  actually  listened  outside 
the  council  chamber  where  the  Cabinet  met, 
and  printed  the  broken  sentences  he  overheard ! 
As  regards  the  supply  of  news,  the  best  papers 
have  their  own  correspondents,  almost  always 
men  employed  on  a newspaper  in  other  chief 
cities,  and  some  of  them  have  mail  correspondents 
abroad,  generally  young  men  who  have  gone  to 
Europe  or  America  to  study.  Much  enterprise 
is  shown  in  collecting  full  accounts  of  anything 
that  occurs  in  Japan,  but  the  trail  of  the  un- 


48 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


trustworthy  reporter  is  over  it  all,  and  this 
greatly  reduces  its  interest  and  influence.  Most 
of  the  papers  are  owned  each  by  a few 
rich  and  influential  men  who  keep  in  the  back- 
ground. 

If  this  estimate  of  the  Japanese  press  errs,  it 
does  so  on  the  side  of  leniencyj  One  of  the 
most  qualified  observers  of  things  Japanese  has 
written  : — “ The  verdict  of  any  candid  reader  of 
Japanese  journals  is  that  they  have  not  reached 
even  the  threshold  of  achievement.  Their  local 
correspondence  is  virtually  non-existent.  Their 
foreign  correspondence  is  a matter  of  accident. 
They  have  no  telegraphic  service  worthy  of  the 
name,  a few  scanty  messages  from  the  provinces, 
representing  the  whole  duty  done  for  them  by  an 
agent  that  now  fills  the  most  important  place  in 
the  columns  of  all  Western  newspapers.  Their 
reporting  is  almost  a by-word.  They  do  not  even 
give  their  readers  any  accurate  information  about 
the  cases  tried  in  the  Law  Courts,  and  in  the 
great  majority  of  instances  no  reliance  can  be 
placed  on  the  items  of  miscellaneous  intelligence 
they  unhesitatingly  publish.  Yet  with  these  short- 
comings staring  them  in  the  face,  they  have 
engaged  in  such  a headlong  competition,  that  a 


JAPANESE  JOUPNALISM. 


49 


copy  of  one  of  the  best  among  them  costs  only 
seven-fortieths  of  a penny.” 

The  oldest  Tokyo  newspaper,  and  perhaps  the 
leading  one  in  Japan,  is  the  Nichi  Nichi  Shimbun 
— “Daily  News” — of  which  Mr.  N.'Seki  is  editor 
and  part  proprietor.  Mr.  Seki  is  a typical 
Japanese  gentleman  of  the  type  produced  by 
the  modern  tendencies  of  his  nation.  Personally 
a young  man  of  fine  features  and  charming 
manners,  he  is  at  the  same  time  a political 
student  with  well-reasoned  convictions  upon 
politics  and  political  economy  in  the  abstract, 
and  very  definite  views,  if  perhaps  too  enthu- 
siastic ones,  as  to  the  practical  application  of  his 
theories  to  the  problems  and  needs  of  his  own 
time  and  people.  Like  almost  all  educated 
modern  Japanese  he  speaks  English  with  ease, 
and  on  his  recent  return  from  a European  trip 
of  political  studies — spent  chiefly  in  London — he 
turned  over  a new  leaf  in  his  newspaper.  For 
years  the  Nichi  Nichi  Shimbitn  had  been 
regarded  as  the  mouthpiece  of  the  Government, 
and  the  happy  possessor  of  the  advantages  which 
spring  from  such  a connection.  Indeed  one 
Government  official,  who  ought  to  know,  told 
me  the  exact  amount  in  dollars  of  the  subsidy 


50 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


it  received.  But  on  the  whole,  as  Mr.  Seki 
discovered,  the  disadvantages  of  such  a con- 
nection heavily  outweigh  the  advantages,  and 
nowhere  does  the  suspicion  of  official  subsidy 
do  more  injury  than  in  the  Japanese  press. 

On  a par  with  this  paper,  or  close  on  its  heels, 
comes  the  Jiji  Shimpo — the  “Times” — an  inde- 
pendent radical  journal.  This,  like  so  many  in 
Paris,  several  in  the  United  States,  and  at  least 
one  in  London,  is  a one-man  organ — the  mouth- 
piece of  one  man  with  original  and  characteristic 
opinions,  and  independent  even  to  “conscientious 
unscrupulousness”  in  expressing  them.  The  Jiji 
Shimpo  has  therefore  all  the  peculiar  strength 
and  weakness  of  this  course.  The  man  is  Mr. 
Fukuzawa,  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  re- 
markable personalities  in  Japan.  He  began  by 
translating  into  Japanese  all  the  best  foreign 
manuals  of  history,  political  economy,  geography, 
philosophy,  &c.,  and  thus  directing  the  youth 
of  Japan  to  the  best  paths  of  Western  know- 
ledge. He  has  been  for  many  years  the  head 
of  the  largest  private  school  in  Japan,  where 
his  influence  over  700  or  800  young  men  was 
formerly  boundless.  To  great  learning  he  unites 
the  highest  degree  of  personal  magnetism  and 


JAPANESE  JOURNALISM. 


51 


extraordinary  eloquence,  so  that  if  he  chooses 
to  make  himself  prominent  in  politics  during  the 
next  few  years,  when  the  introduction  of  repre- 
sentative government  will  have  given  to  public 
speaking  the  same  place  and  power  that  it  has 
among  Western  nations,  he  will  become  a force 
for  the  professional  politicians  to  reckon  with. 
His  temperament,  however,  is  that  of  the 
dreamer  rather  than  that  of  the  actor  or  the 
practical  guide,  and  under  his  rule  the  Jiji 
Shimpo  is  constantly  putting  forth  great  schemes 
of  reform  which  strike  the  imagination  without 
offering  any  point  of  contact  with  practical  affairs. 
Once  he  proposed,  for  instance,  that  financial 
reform  should  be  begun  by  cutting  off  one-half 
of  the  salaries  of  all  Government  officials,  as 
though  the  poor  stipends  of  the  nations’  clerks 
all  put  together  would  be  more  than  a drop  in 
the  bucket  of  national  expenditure.  Then  again 
he  lost  caste  greatly  even  among  his  own  students 
by  his  proposal  that  Christianity,  in  which  he 
professed,  in  common,  as  he  said,  with  all  intel- 
ligent men,  to  feel  no  personal  faith,  should  be 
universally  adopted  for  political  ends.  The  Jiji 
Shimpo  is  always  thoughtful  and  suggestive,  but 
its  suggestions — or  rather  Mr.  Fukuzawa’s — are 


52 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


Emersonian  in  their  subtlety  and  incomprehen- 
sibility, and  Carlylean  in  their  vigour  and 
inaccuracy. 

Among  the  newspapers  of  the  Capital  the 
Hochi  Shimbun — the  “ Post  ” — is  second  to  none, 
and  its  position  is  due  not  a little  to  the  fact  that 
it  has  been  distinctly  the  organ  of  H.  E.  Count 
Okuma,  ex-Minister  of  Eoreign  Affairs,  Mr. 
Yano,  the  editor,  having  been  formerly  closely 
associated  with  Count  Okuma  in  active  political 
life.  The  Japanese  Ministers  are  well  acquainted 
with  ail  the  tactics  of  Western  Ministers,  and 
Prince  Bismarck  knows  no  more  about  the  press 
or  its  value  or  its  dangers  than  Count  Okuma 
does. 

Among  the  other  leading  papers  are  the 
Mainichi  Shimbun  (“  every  day’s  news  ”),  a liberal 
journal  owned  by  Mr.  Numa,  the  speaker  of  the 
Tokyo  Assembly,  and  edited  by  Mr.  Shimada  ; 
the  CJioya  Shimbun  (“  official  and  popular  news”), 
a liberal  paper  edited  by  Mr.  Yoshida;  the  Tokyo 
Dejnpo  (“Telegraph”),  a conservative  journal, 
generally  regarded  as  the  organ  of  General  Tani, 
formerly  Minister  of  Agriculture  and  Commerce  ; 
and  the  Koron  Shimpo  (“  public  opinion”),  newly 
established  like  the  preceding  one,  but  a radical 


JAPANESE  JOURNALISM. 


55 


paper,  the  organ  of  Count  Itagaki,  a radical 
“Jingo,”  edited  by  a Japanese  member  of  the 
English  bar,  now  residing  abroad  for  awhile 
under  the  recent  Peace  Preservation  Acts.  The 
Koro7i  SJmnpo  is  closely  associated,  too,  with 
Count  Goto,  a politician  of  much  activity  of  mind, 
although  he  has  never  yet  succeeded  in  forming  a 
steady  nucleus  of  political  principles  around  which 
to  gather  that  radical  and  opposition  party  he  is 
credited  with  the  desire  to  lead.  The  terms 
“liberal”  and  “conservative”  and  “radical,”  how- 
ever, as  thus  applied  to  Japanese  politicians  and 
the  Japanese  press,  must  necessarily  be  mislead- 
ing or  at  any  rate  very  vague,  until  the  debates 
of  the  National  Assembly  naturally  result  in  the 
formation  of  distinct  parties.  At  present  states- 
men, and  therefore  newspapers  as  well,  are 
divided  according  to  their  personal  differences 
upon  each  question  as  it  arises. 

I come  now  to  the  leading  English  daily  paper 
in  this  part  of  the  East,  the  Japaii  Mail,  although 
it  would  perhaps  have  been  more  in  accordance 
with  the  position  and  influence  of  that  paper  if  I 
had  begun  with  it.  As  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Fuku- 
zawa  and  the  yiji  Shimpo,  so — with  a great 
difference — the  Japan  Mail  springs  every  day 

4 


54 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


from  the  brains  of  one  man.  It  is  edited  and 
owned  by  Captain  F.  Brinkley,  R.A.,  who  began 
life  in  the  East  in  1866  as  aide  de  camp  to  his 
cousin,  Sir  Richard  Graves  Macdonnell,  then 
Governor  of  Hongkong.  In  1867  he  came  to 
Yokohama  in  command  of  the  artillery  stationed 

there,  and  two  years 
later,  with  the  per- 
mission of  the  Horse 
Guards,  accepted  the 
position  of  teacher 
of  strategy  and  tac- 
tics to  the  troops  of 
the  Prince  of  Echi- 
zen,  one  of  the 
greatest  of  the  feudal 
Daimios.  The  Res- 
storation  abolished 
forces  of  this  kind, 
CAPTAIN  BRINKLEY,  R.A.  aiid  Captain  Brink- 

ley  then  entered  the  service  of  the  Mikado’s  Gov- 
ernment and  tookcharo^e  of  the  School  for  Marine 

o 


Officers.  By  and  by  the  Marines  were  abolished  in 
Japan,  and  then  he  became  professor  of  mathematics 
in  the  Engineering  College.  When  in  the  onward 
march  of  Japan  she  dispensed  with  all  foreign 


JAPANESE  JOURNALISM, 


55 


professors  except  technical  ones,  Captain  Brinkley 
purchased  the  Japan  Mail.  This  was  in  i88i, 
and  he  has  transformed  it  from  a local  sheet  to  a 
journal  ranking  with  any  in  the  East,  and  the  re- 
cognized authority  upon  Japanese  affairs  the  world 
over.  Captain  Brinkley  is  truly  a remarkable 
man,  and  though  the  loss  to  Japan  would  probably 
be  irremediable,  one  cannot  help  regretting  that 
his  great  ability  should  not  find  its  natural  scope 
in  some  Western  capital.  His  knowledge  of  the 
Japanese  language,  certainly  so  far  as  it  is  spoken, 
is  much  beyond  that  of  any  other  foreigner ; its 
modern  history,  its  politics,  its  finance,  and  its 
foreign  relations,  he  knows  on  the  whole,  it  is 
hardly  too  much  to  say,  as  well  as  any  Japanese 
living;  as  an  authority  upon  Chinese  and  Japanese 
porcelain  and  faience  he  has  no  equal,  and  his 
collections  are  famous  among  connoisseurs  every- 
where ; he  is  on  intimate  personal  terms  with  the 
Japanese  ministers  and  the  foreign  representatives 
alike,  and  not  alone  during  the  stormy  times  of 
Treaty  Revision,  but  also  on  many  other  occa- 
sions, his  personal  tact  and  the  masterly  editorials 
of  the  Japan  MailhsiVQ  played  an  important  part 
in  the  fortunes  and  foreign  relations  of  the  Ja- 
panese Empire.  Indeed,  the  editor  of  one  of  the 


56 


THE  REAL  JAPAN, 


vernacular  papers  I have  described  at  length 
above,  said  to  me  once,  “ Captain  Brinkley’s 
knowledge  of  the  Japanese  is  marvellous — he 
knows  everything  about  us — everything  ! ” Add 
to  this  that  he  is  as  jolly  and  kind-hearted  an 
Irishman  as  ever  sang,  “Whack  for  the  larrily ” 
in  Kerry,  or  upset  a pitcher  in  Coleraine,  and 
that  his  knowledge,  his  experience,  his  collections, 
and  his  time  are  put  with  unfailing  patience  at  the 
service  of  everybody  who  is  really  and  genuinely 
interested  in  the  Empire  where  he  has  made  his 
home,  and  it  is  hardly  necessary  for  me  to  go  on 
and  say  that  I am  under  the  greatest  obligations  to 
him — obligations  altogether  too  great  for  detailed 
acknowledgment.  It  would  surprise  readers  at 
home  to  know  how  large  and  exact  a part  of  all 
that  they  have  recently  read  on  Japan  has  been 
the  direct  result  of  “ picking  Brinkley’s  brains.” 
Let  me,  at  least,  be  explicit  on  this  point. 

There  are  at  Yokohama  two  other  papers  pub- 
lished in  English,  the  Herald  and  the  Gazette. 
They  are,  however,  purely  the  organs  of  the  local 
foreign  commercial  community,  their  creed  is 
“ foreigners,  especially  Englishmen,  right  or 
wrong,”  and  they  make  little  or  no  attempt  to 
understand  or  to  represent  Japanese  thought 
and  feeling. 


rAPANESE  [OURNALISM. 


57 


Finally,  to  return  to  the  vernacular  press  for  a 
moment,  the  same  thing  must  happen  before  long 
in  Japan  that  has  happened  nearly  everywhere 
else.  The  right  man  will  get  hold  of  one  of  the 
old  newspapers,  he  will  secure  the  support  of  an 
enterprising  capitalist,  he  will  flood  Japan  with 
advertisements,  he  will  employ  all  the  aids  of 
illustration,  he  will  revive  the  national  art  of 
fiction,  he  will  engage  foreign  correspondents 
everywhere,  he  will  make  reputations  and  ruin 
them,  he  will  create  ministries,  and  destroy  them, 
he  will  do  much  more  good  and  evil  than  any  of 
his  fellow  men,  and  by  and  by  he  will  fill  the 
pockets  of  his  proprietors  with  a golden  harvest, 
and  then  break  down  from  over-work  and  die 
forgotten,  like  most  other  great  editors  before 
him.  But — vogue  la  galere  ! 


III. 

JAPANESE  JUSTICE. 


III. 


JAPANESE  JUSTICE. 

A JAPANESE  policeman  was  never  known 
to  smile,  but  when  he  finds  it  necessary 
to  proceed  to  the  extreme  step  of  arrest- 
ing a law-breaker  his  face  becomes  clouded  over 
with  a pall  of  sorrow  and  solemnity  that  would  do 
credit  to  an  Irish  undertaker  taking  the  coffin- 
measurement  of  an  archbishop.  Grasping  the 
offender  firmly  with  one  hand,  with  the  other  he 
extracts  from  an  invisible  pocket  of  great  capacity 
a roll  of  strong  cord.  Whispering  polite  and 
minute  directions  in  the  ear  of  the  victim,  who 
obeys  them  with  scrupulous  consideration  for  the 
feelings  of  his  captor,  he  winds  the  cord  several 
times  round  his  waist  and  then  attaches  his  wrists 
in  optical  contact  with  the  small  of  his  back.  Six 
feet  of  cord  remain,  the  policeman  grasps  the 
loose  end,  and  bowing  to  the  prisoner  with  an 
After  you,  Sir,”  the  pair  march  away  in  a touch- 


62 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


ing  union  of  sadness  and  security.  The  neigh- 
bourhood is  paralyzed  during  the  performance, 
business  is  suspended,  traffic  is  stopped,  and  the 
bob-tailed  top-knot  of  Bo-chan  the  baby  stands 
straight  up  from  his  cranium  in  alarm  and  disap- 
probation. But  the 
moment  the  polite 
policeman  and  his 
politer  prey  have 
disappeared  round 
the  corner,  all  the 
spectators  burst  out 
laughing  simultan- 
eously, and  two 
minutes  afterwards 
the  affair  is  for- 
gotten by  every- 
body except  baby 
Bo-ckans  brother, 
who  inaugurates  a 
A JAPANESE  POLICEMAN.  series  of  abortive 

attempts  to  tie  up  the  astonished  and  indignant 
cat,  quite  oblivious  of  the  fact  that  the  spider- 
and-fly  manoeuvre  he  has  just  witnessed  requires 
for  its  successful  accomplishment  the  cooperation 
of  both  parties.  “ Why  on  earth  doesn’t  the 


JAPANESE  JUSTICE.  63 

Japanese  policeman  use  handcuffs?”  I give  it 
up. 

The  formality  of  an  arrest,  however,  is  the  only 
amusing  side  of  Japanese  justice.  If  you  follow 
the  white-clothed  policeman  and  his  prisoner  you 
will  soon  reach  a police-station  in  which  sit  a 
dozen  clerks  and  functionaries  hard  at  work  at 
books  and  accounts  and  reports,  with  nothing 
except  their  physiognomy  and  the  little  teapot 
and  tobacco  brazier  beside  each  one  to  differen- 
tiate them  from  similar  European  officials.  The 
prisoner  will  be  taken  before  a superior  officer, 
the  charge  against  him  noted  down,  he  will  be 
searched  and  then  put  in  one  of  a dozen  wooden 
cells,  ten  feet  square  perhaps,  separated  from  the 
central  passage  by  great  wooden  bars  reaching 
from  floor  to  ceiling,  and  making  a cell  curiously 
like  an  elephant  house,  but  providing  admirably 
for  ventilation  in  a hot  climate.  At  the  police- 
station  he  may  not  be  kept  more  than  twenty-four 
hours,  and  then  he  is  removed  to  a central  station 
which  is  simply  the  first  police-station  on  a large 
scale,  minus  the  functionaries  and  plus  the  neces- 
sary arrangements  for  the  detention  of  prisoners 
for  long  periods. 

It  is  when  the  time  for  his  regular  trial  comes 


64 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


that  the  English  or  American  investigator  who 
has  been  following  the  offender’s  career  finds  him- 
self on  unfamiliar  ground.  But  the  unfamiliarity 
of  it  is  far  from  being  Japanese  or  Oriental,  and  to 
a Frenchman  it  would  be  home,  sweet  home. 
For  the  eclecticism  of  Japan,  in  proving  all  our 
western  institutions  and  holding  fast  to  those 
which  seem  to  her  good,  results  here  at  the  centre 
of  government  in  what  looks  like  an  international 
hodge-podge,  until  one  has  learned  to  appreciate 
the  national  principle  which  has  produced  it. 
Thus  when  you  visit  one  of  the  purely  political 
offices,  say  the  Foreign  Office,  you  find  yourself 
in  an  English  atmosphere,  and  you  speak  English. 
When  you  visit  the  University,  on  the  other 
hand,  you  find  all  the  bottles  of  the  Medical 
School  labelled  in  German,  the  inscriptions  over 
the  patients’  beds  in  Latin  and  German,  and 
unless  you  know  Japanese  you  must  speak 
German  to  be  understood.  The  Department  of 
Police,  again,  is  modelled  entirely  upon  the 
French  system,  and  you  must  speak  French 
there  if  you  are  a visitor,  and  be  tried  in  the 
French  style  if  you  are  a prisoner.  So  I am 
conducted  to  a closed  door  and  there  told,  “ It 
is  forbidden  by  law  for  any  persons  except 


JAPANESE  JUSTICE. 


65 


the  examining  judge  and  his  clerk  to  be  pre- 
sent at  the  secret  preliminary  inquiry,  but  by 
special  permission  you  may  enter.”  As  the  pro- 
ceedings were,  of  course,  in  Japanese,  I have  no 
difficulty  in  preserving  a perfect  discretion.  It 
was  simply  a very  small  room  with  an  elevated 
desk,  behind  which  sat  the  official  and  his  clerk, 
closely  questioning  from  a brief  before  him  an 
individual — a prosecutor,  this  time — who  stood 
upon  the  floor.  From  here  we  passed,  through 
endless  bureaus  of  busy  functionaries,  to  the 
several  courts,  and  took  seats  behind  several  of 
the  judges  in  turn.  A Japanese  court-room  at  the 
present  moment  is  a dreary  place,  but  this  is  only 
temporary,  for  the  introduction  of  European  laws 
and  European  methods  of  administering  them 
rendered  the  Old  Department  of  Police  entirely 
inadequate  in  size  and  arrangement,  and  a new  one 
will  shortly  be  completed.  The  court  rooms  are 
very  large  and  square,  with  plain  white  walls  and 
board  floor.  Upon  a raised  platform  occupying 
one  end  sits  the  judge  in  broadcloth  behind  a 
table  hung  with  baize,  with  a clerk,  sometimes  in 
'Japanese  dress,  beside  him.  In  front  of  the 
judge  and  at  his  feet  sit  a couple  of  policemen. 
Beyond  them  is  a stout  railing,  behind  which  the 


66 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


prisoner  stands.  Then  there  is  the  empty  floor, 
and  at  the  opposite  side  of  the  room  two  or  three 
bare  benches  for  the  public,  but  the  only  occupant 
of  them  in  each  of  the  courts  that  I visited  was  a 
solitary  reporter  taking  notes.  From  the  ani- 
mated conversation  between  the  judge  and  the 
accused,  it  was  evident,  without  a word  being 
understood,  that  the  system  was  purely  French. 
When  sentence  is  pronounced  one  of  the  police- 
men rises  and  leads  the  prisoner  away  to  a sort  of 
guard  room  at  the  back,  in  which  you  can  see 
through  the  glass  door  that  he  winds  him  up 
again  in  the  cord  and  leads  him  away.  In  civil 
cases  the  benches  before  the  judge  are  occupied 
by  the  counsel,  who  rise  alternately  and  address 
him,  and  so  far  as  one  can  judge  without  catching 
more  than  a word  here  and  there,  they  plead  with 
great  ease  and  eloquence.  European  dress  is  the 
rule  for  the  advocates,  and  one  of  them  who  was 
dressed  in  the  graceful  and  dignified  dress  of  the 
Japanese  gentleman,  and  who  wore  his  black  hair 
haneine  in  a thick  mass  over  his  shoulders,  was 
pointed  out  to  me  as  an  extremely  clever  man  and 
famous  as  the  oddity  of  the  Tokyo  bar. 

So  anxious  were  my  guides  that  I should  not 
carry  away  the  impression,  as  some  visitors  have 


JAPANESE  JUSTICE. 


67 


done,  that  I was  being  shown  only  half  the 
system,  and  that  the  better  half,  that  they  took 
me  over  every  hole  and  corner  of  the  Department 
of  Police,  a huge  green  and  white  wooden  build- 
ing surrounding  a fountain  and  pleasant  garden 
court.  There  was  the  bureau  of  the  detective 
force  ; the  bureau  of  the  political  police,  who  look 
after  possible  political  intrigues,  questionable  lec- 
tures, public  meetings,  and  so  forth  ; the  bureau 
of  prostitution  ; the  translators’  bureau  ; the 
library  ; the  financial  auditor’s  office  ; the  private 
bank  of  the  department,  the  temple-like  place  of 
detention  for  political  prisoners,  the  police-bar- 
racks and  fencing-room,  and  a score  more.  After 
awhile  we  reached  a room  where  twenty  particu- 
larly intelligent-looking  officials  sat  at  both  sides 
of  a long  table  piled  up  with  newspapers,  scis- 
sors, blue  and  red  pencils,  paste-pots,  and  all 
the  familiar  equipment  of  the  exchange  editor’s 
sanctum.  I turned  to  my  guides  for  an  explana- 
tion and  caught  them  regarding  me  and  each 
other  with  amused  smiles.  Then  I saw  the  joke. 
It  was  the  Bureau  of  Newspaper  Censorship,  and 
these  gentlemen  with  the  spectacles  and  scissors 
and  paste  were  examining  all  the  newspapers  of 
Japan  for  treasonable  or  seditious  sentiments  or 


68 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


improper  criticism  of  ministerial  and  Imperial 
affairs.  I was  introduced,  and  the  twenty  gentle- 
men rose  simultaneously,  and  the  laugh  became 
general.  “ This,”  said  my  guide,  waving  his 
hand  proudly  over  the  piles  of  newspapers  and 
the  teapots  of  the  Censors,  is  an  institution  you 
have  not  yet  reached  in  England.”  The  proce- 
dure of  this  branch  of  the  Japanese  police  is 
simple  in  the  extreme.  A lynx-eyed  censor  dis- 
covers an  article  which  seems  to  his  conservative 
notions  to  threaten  the  stability  of  the  Govern- 
ment, to  bring  a minister  into  contempt,  or  to 
foster  improper  agitation  among  the  people.  He 
extracts  it  and  submits  it  to  the  Director  of  the 
Bureau,  who  probably  takes  counsel  with  the 
higher  authorities.  If  the  censor’s  view  is  con- 
firmed the  editor  of  the  paper  is  peremptorily  but 
politely  summoned — everything  is  done  politely 
in  Japan,  and  I have  no  doubt  that  the  schoolboy 
is  politely  birched  and  the  criminal  politely  exe- 
cuted— to  appear  at  the  Department  of  Police  at 
a certain  hour  on  a certain  day.  When  that 
summons  comes  to  join  the  innumerable  caravan 
of  martyrs  to  a sense  of  journalistic  duty,  he 
knows  that — in  the  expressive  language  of  the 
Bowery — he  is  a “goner.”  “Sir,”  he  is  told^ 


lAPANESE  JUSTICE. 


69 


“ your  estimable  journal  is  suspended  for  so  many 
days.  Good  morning.”  Voilatoiit.  The  Bureau 
of  Newspaper  Censorship  has  plagiarized  the 
methods  of  Fate.  It  neither  warns  nor  ex- 
plains nor  justifies — it  simply  strikes.  But  the 
Japanese  editor  is  not  the  least  wily  of  his 
tribe,  and  he,  too,  has  taken  a leaf  from  the  same 
book.  Noticing  how  often  Fate  strikes  the 
wrong  person,  he  has  concluded  to  make  the 
imitation  complete  in  this  respect  also,  and  he 
therefore  provides  a dummy  editor,  in  the  person 
of  some  worthy  individual  who  for  a small  weekly 
consideration  and  the  attraction  of  long  periods 
of  inactivity,  consents  to  take  upon  himself  the 
editorial  punishment  when  it  comes,  for  not  infre- 
quently imprisonment  accompanies  suspension. 
“ My  friend,”  says  the  real  editor  to  the  dummy 
editor  some  fine  morning,  “ I am  about  to  scarify 
the  Minister  of  Communications.  Pray  make 
your  arrangements  accordingly.  So  Justice 
is  satisfied  and  Japan  is  guarded  and  Providence 
is  imitated.  But  I wonder  whether  the  Censors 
are  not  a little  puzzled  sometimes  to  know  how 
the  illiterate  and  cheerful  individuals  who  answer 
their  summonses  manage  to  write  the  subtle  and 
cynical  diatribes  of  which  they  disapprove.  The 

5 


70 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


severity  of  the  Censorship  depends,  of  course, 
upon  the  temperament  of  the  Ministers  at  the 
time.  The  other  day  the  publishers  and  editors 
of  nine  Tokyo  papers  were  imprisoned  for  a 
month  and  fined  25  yen  for  publishing  a memorial 
to  the  Minister  President  of  State  against  a 
certain  provision  of  the  Constitution,  which,  the 
memorialists  alleged,  virtually  set  the  government 
above  the  Emperor ! 

The  Japanese  Press  Laws  are  very  strict,  and 
suspensions  of  newspapers  and  imprisonment  of 
journalists  are  very  common.  But  a free  press 
is  an  Anglo-Saxon  institution  which  presupposes, 
perhaps,  more  than  the  Japanese  yet  possess. 
“No  one  doubts,”  writes  a friend  of  Japan,  “ that 
Japanese  statesmen  would  most  gladly  grant  full 
liberty  of  speech  and  pen  to  their  countrymen, 
but  it  is  certain  that  to  do  so  would  be  to  expose 
society  to  great  perils.  The  class  to  which 
Nishino  Buntaro,  the  brutal  murderer  of  Viscount 
Mori,  and  Kurushima  Tsuneki,  the  would-be 
assassin  of  Count  Okuma,  belong,  does  not  yet 
possess  sufficient  discrimination  to  safely  enjoy 
such  privileges.  Irresponsible  foreign  critics 
may  spin  pretty  theories  from  materials  furnished 
by  Mill  and  Spencer,  but  every  practical  Japa- 


JAPANESE  JUSTICE. 


71 


nese  statesman  with  the  record  of  this  present 
year  before  him  must  feel  that  the  day  for  a free 
press  has  not  yet  dawned  upon  his  countrymen.” 
The  whole  system  of  secret  police  is  highly 
developed  in  Japan.  There  is  a regular  staff  of 
detectives  who  disguise  themselves  as  labourers, 
merchants,  or  travellers,  or  even  in  case  it  is 
necessary  to  hunt  down  some  great  criminal,  hire 
a house  in  the  suspected  neighbourhood,  and  live 
there.  One  of  these  men  loses  caste  very  much 
in  his  office,  if  he  does  not  actually  suffer  a 
degradation  of  position,  by  failing  to  return  with 
information  he  is  despatched  to  secure.  Besides 
these,  however,  there  is  a regular  staff  of  private 
police  correspondents  in  all  parts  of  the  country, 
and  one  whole  bureau  at  the  Department  of 
Police  is  devoted  to  receiving,  ordering,  classify- 
ing these,  and  taking  action  upon  them.  A good 
deal  of  information  must  be  picked  up  from  the 
tea-houses,  each  of  which  is  a centre  of  gossip, 
and  in  one  or  other  of  which  almost  every  male 
well-to-do  inhabitant  of  Tokyo  is  an  habihid.  The 
Yoshiward,  again,  is  of  course  a police  hunting 
ground,  and  the  most  interesting  hour  I spent  in 
the  Police  Department  was  in  conversation  with 
the  officials  of  the  bureau  which  controls  this,  and 


72 


THE  REAL  JAPAN, 


in  watching  the  sad  and  secret  spectacle  of  young 
girls  coming  up  for  permission  to  enter  it  as 
recruits.  The  whole  story  and  system  of  the 
Yoshiwara,  however,  is  so  extraordinary,  so 
characteristically  Japanese,  and  so  entirely  un- 
known to  the  rest  of  the  world,  that  I shall 
devote  a later  chapter  to  it,  especially  as  the 
'police  told  me  that  I was  the  first  foreigner  who 
had  ever  been  allowed  to  investigate  it  on  the 
spot  in  the  company  of  the  chief  of  the  special 
Yoshiwara  police.  To  return  from  this  digres- 
sion to  the  secret  police,  I fancy  that  not  only  the 
movements  of  every  Japanese  criminal,  but  of 
anybody  else,  Japanese  or  foreign,  that  they  are 
interested  in,,  are  perfectly  well  known  at  the 
Keishicho.  An  official  of  one  of  the  Ministers 
of  State  told  me  that  a little  while  ago  he  was  on 
a visit  to  a large  town  in  the  south,  and  met  there 
a foreigner  whose  movements  seemed  to  him  in- 
explicable  on  any  theory  of  private  life.  These 
suspicions  grew,  until  at  last  my  friend  suggested 
to  the  .Police  Department  at  Tokyo  the  advisa- 
bility of  keeping  a watch  upon  the  man’s  actions. 
A week  later  a secret  report  was  put  into  my 
friend’s  hands,  giving  the  daily  life  of  the  suspect 
from  .the  time  of  his  arrival.  The  hour  of  each 


A Geisha  Dancing. — II. 

{A  I Instantaneous  Photograph.) 


JAPANESE  JUSTICE. 


75 


of  his  movements,  the  name  of  every  person  with 
whom  he  had  dealings,  the  letters  he  had  written, 
the  money  he  had  spent,  even  the  cost  of  his  most 
private  pleasures, — all  was  put  down  in  black  and 
white.  If  an  Englishman  or  an  American  criti- 
cizes this  system  of  espionage,  the  Japanese 
authorities  reply  with  perfect  truth  that  the  Japa- 
nese people  are  different  entirely  from  English  or 
American,  and  point,  besides,  to  the  secret  and 
political  police  of  France  and  Germany  and 
Russia.  In  the  “rogues  gallery”  of  Tokyo 
alone,  I may  add,  are  the  dossiers,  or  complete 
records,  of  150,000  criminals,  admirably  arranged 
as  a card  catalogue,  like  the  latest  device  ot 
American  library  cataloguing. 

With  the  exception  of  the  Yoshiwara,  of  which 
plenty  hereafter,  the  two  prisons  of  Tokyo  are 
the  most  interesting  things  I have  seen  in  Japan. 
These  are,  first,  the  great  prison  upon  the  Island 
of  Ishikawa,  at  the  south  of  the  city,  and  second, 
the  convict  and  female  prison  of  Ichigawa,  in  the 
centre  of  the  city  itself.  The  former  is  com- 
pletely isolated,  all  communication  with  the  main- 
land being  by  police-ferry,  and  contains  two 
thousand  men  and  boys,  all  of  whom  are  serving 
terms  of  ten  years  or  less.  The  latter  contains 


76 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


fifteen  hundred  men  and  one  hundred  women, 
among  whom  are  many  serving  life- sentences. 
There  is  a convict-farm  attached,  and  it  is  here 
that  capital  punishment  is  inflicted.  Otherwise 
the  two  prisons  resemble  each  other  so  closely 
that  it  is  not  necessary  to  distinguish  between 
them  in  description.  Mr.  Suzuki,  Vice-president 
of  the  prison,  did  me  the  honours  of  Ishikawa, 
and  Mr.  Adachi,  the  Director,  of  Ichigawa. 

The  entrance  is  through  a massive  wooden 
gateway,  into  a guard-room,  adjoining  which  are 
the  offices  of  the  Director  and  officials.  The 
prison  itself  consists  of  a score  or  more  of  de- 
tached one-story  buildings,  all  of  wood  and  some 
of  them  merely  substantial  sheds,  under  which  the 
rougher  labour,  like  stone-breaking,  is  performed. 
The  dormitories  are  enormous  wooden  cages,  the 
front  and  part  of  the  back  formed  of  bars  as  thick 
as  one’s  arm,  before  which  again  is  a narrow- 
covered  passage,  where  the  warder  on  guard 
walks  at  night.  There  is  not  a particle  of  furni- 
ture or  a single  article  of  any  kind  upon  the  floor, 
which  is  polished  till  it  reflects  your  body  like  a 
mirror.  No  boot,  of  course,  ever  touches  it.  The 
thick  quilts  or  fiiton,  which  constitute  everywhere 
the  Japanese  bed,  are  all  rolled  up  and  stacked  on 


JAPANESE  JUSTICE. 


77 


a broad  shelf  running  round  the  room  overhead. 
Each  dormitory  holds  ninety-six  prisoners,  and 
there  is  a long  row  of  them.  The  sanitary  ar- 
rangements are  situated  in  a little  addition  at 
the  back,  and  I was  assured  that  these  had  not 
been  made  pleasant  for  my  inspection.  If  not,  I 


ON  THE  CONVICT  FARM. 

can  only  say  that  in  this  most  important  respect  a 
Japanese  prison  could  not  well  be  improved.  In 
fact,  the  whole  dormitory,  with  its  perfect  ventila- 
tion, its  construction  of  solid,  highly-polished' 
wood,  in  which  there  is  no  chance  for  vermin  to 
harbour,  and  its  combined  simplicity  and  security. 


78 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


is  an  almost  ideal  prison  structure.  Of  course  the 
fact  that  every  Japanese,  from  the  Emperor  to  the 
coolie,  sleeps  upon  quilts  spread  out  on  the  floor, 
greatly  simplifies  the  task  of  the  prison  architect 
in  Japan. 

On  leaving  the  dormitories  we  passed  a small, 
isolated  square  erection,  peaked  and  gabled  like  a 
little  temple.  The  door  was  solemnly  unlocked 
and  flung  back,  and  I was  motioned  to  enter.  It 
was  the  punishment  cell,  another  spotless  wooden 
box,  well  ventilated,  but  perfectly  dark,  and  with 
walls  so  thick  as  to  render  it  practically  silent. 
“ How  many  prisoners  have  been  in  it  during  the 
last  month  ? ” I asked.  The  Director  summoned 
the  Chief  Warder,  and  repeated  my  question  to 
him.  “ H'tori  mo  gozaimasen — none  whatever,” 
was  the  reply.  “ What  other  punishments  have 
you  ” “None  whatever.”  “No  flogging?” 
When  this  question  was  translated  the  Director 
and  the  little  group  of  officials  all  laughed  together 
at  the  bare  idea.  I could  not  help  wondering 
whether  there  was  another  prison  in  the  world 
with  no  method  of  punishment  for  two  thousand 
criminals  except  one  dark  cell,  and  that  not  used 
for  a month.  And  the  recollection  of  the  filthy 
and  suffocating  sty  used  as  a punishment  cell  in 


JAPANESE  JUSTICE. 


79 


the  City  Prison  of  San  P'rancisco  came  upon  me 
like  a nausea. 

A Japanese  prison  may  be  divided  into  two 
parts — dormitories  and  workshops.  Of  cells  or 
prison  buildings  properly  speaking,  there  is  nothing 
whatever.  It  is  a place  of  detention,  of  reforma- 
tion, and  of  profitable  labour,  and  in  the  latter 
aspect  one  of  the  greatest  surprises  of  life  awaited 
us.  Walking  across  the  yard  we  entered  the  first 
workshop,  where  a couple  of  hundred  prisoners 
were  making  machinery  and  steam  boilers.  One 
warder,  armed  only  with  a sword,  is  reckoned  for 
every  fifteen  men,  and  here  the  prisoners  were 
working  on  contract  orders  for  outside  firms, 
under  the  supervision  of  one  skilled  teacher  and 
one  representative  of  the  firm  giving  the  contract. 
The  prisoners  work  for  nine  hours  a day,  and  are 
all  dressed  in  cotton  suits  of  a peculiar  terra-cotta 
or  crushed  strawberry  colour.  As  we  enter,  the 
warder  on  guard  comes  to  attention  and  cries, 
“ Ki  wo  tsiikero — pay  attention  ! ” when  all  cease 
work  and  bow  with  their  foreheads  to  the  fioor, 
remaining  in  that  attitude  till  a second  command 
bids  them  rise.  They  were  making  large  brass 
and  iron  steam  pumps,  and  had  already  turned 
out  seventy  this  year,  and  the  workshop,  with  its 


8o 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


buzz  of  machinery  and  its  intelligent  labour,  would 
have  been  exactly  like  a part  of  an  arsenal  here 
or  in  Europe,  except  for  the  red  clothes  and  the 
humble  prostration.  The  next  shop  contained 
the  wood-carvers,  and  here  upwards  of  a hundred 
men  were  squatting  with  blocks  of  wood  between 
their  knees,  carving  with  the  keenest  interest  upon 
all  sorts  of  things,  from  thick  simple  trays  and  bowls 
to  fragile  and  delicate  long-legged  storks.  I bought 
an  admirably-carved  tobacco-box,  representing  the 
God  of  Laughter  being  dragged  along  by  his  cloak 
by  six  naked  boys,  and  afterwards  I asked  some 
Japanese  friends  who  supposed  I had  picked  it 
up  at  a curio-dealer’s,  how  much  it  was  worth. 
They  guessed  ten  yen — thirty  shillings.  I paid 
sixty-eight  sen  for  it — less  than  two  shillings.  It 
is  a piece  that  would  be  admired  anywhere,  and 
yet  it  was  the  work  of  a common  burglar,  who 
had  made  the  acquaintance  of  a carving  tool  and 
a prison  at  the  same  time.  After  the  carvers 
came  the  paper-makers,  then  the  weavers,  weaving 
and  dyeing  the  prison  clothing,  then  the  sandal- 
makers,  then  the  fan-makers,  then  the  lantern- 
makers,  then  j marvellous  basket-work  and  mats 
and  nets,  then  an  extensive  printing-shop,  where 
the  proof-reader  was  a prisoner  who  had  for- 


JAPANESE  JUSTICE. 


8i 


merly  been  Secretary  of  Legation  in  France,  had 
absconded  with  one  hundred  thousand  francs, 
leaving  his  shoes  on  the  banks  of  the  Seine  as 
evidence  of  suicide,  and  eventually  been  arrested 
with  his  mistress  at  a scene  of  high  jinks  in 
Germany.  Then  we  visited  a workshop  where 


THE  PKISON  RICE-MIl  L. 

jinriJdshas  were  being  made,  then  one  where 
umbrella-handles  were  being  elaborately  carved, 
then  one  where  every  kind  of  pottery  from  the 
rough  porous  bottle  and  jar  to  the  egg-shell  tea- 
cup was  rolling  from  a dozen  potters’  wheels,  and 
then  came  the  great  surprise.  Two  days  previous 


82 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


I had  visited  the  house  of  the  most  famous  maker 
in  Japan  of  the  exquisite  cloisonne  ware — the 
enamel  in  inlaid  metal-work  upon  copper — ^who 
rivals  in  everlasting  materials  the  brush  of  Turner 
with  his  pigments  and  the  pencil  of  Alma  Tadema 
with  his  strips  of  metal.  And  I had  stood  for  an 
hour  behind  him  and  his  pupils,  marvelling  that 
the  human  eye  could  become  so  accurate  and  the 
human  hand  so  steady,  and  the  human  heart  so 
patient.  Yet  I give  my  word  that  here  in  the 
prison  at  Ishikawa  sat  not  six  but  sixty  men, 
common  thieves  and  burglars  and  peace-breakers, 
who  knew  no  more  about  cloisonnd  before  they 
were  sentenced  than  a Hindoo  knows  about 
skates,  doing  just  the  same  thing — cutting  by  eye- 
measurement  only  the  tiny  strips  of  copper  to 
make  the  outline  of  a bird’s  beak  or  the  shading 
of  his  wing  or  the  articulations  of  his  toe,  sticking 
these  upon  the  rounded  surface  of  the  copper 
vase,  filling  up  the  interstices  with  pigment,  coat 
upon  coat,  and  firing  and  filing  and  polishing  it 
until  the  finished  work  was  so  true  and  so  delicate 
and  so  beautiful  that  nothing  except  an  occasional 
greater  dignity  and  breadth  of  design  marked  the 
art  of  the  freeman  from  that  of  the  convict.  One 
simply  stood  and  refused  to  believe  one’s  eyes. 


JAPANESE  JUSTICE. 


83 


Fancy  the  attempt  to  teach  such  a thing  at  Pen- 
tonville  or  Dartmoor  or  Sinof-Sinpf ! When  our 
criminal  reaches  his  prison-home  in  Tokyo  he  is 
taught  to  do  that  at  which  the  limit  of  his  natural 
faculties  is  reached.  If  he  can  make  cloisonnd, 
well  and  good  ; if  not,  perhaps  he  can  carve  wood 
or  make  pottery  ; if  not  these,  then  he  can  make 
fans  or  umbrellas  or  basket  work  ; if  he  is  not  up 
to  any  of  these  then  he  can  make  paper  or  set 
type,  or  cast  brass  or  do  carpentering  ; if  the  limit 
is  still  too  high  for  him,  down  he  goes  to  the  rice- 
mill,  and  see-saws  all  day  long  upon  a balanced 
beam,  first  raising  the  stone- weighted  end  and 
then  letting  it  down  with  a great  flop  into  a 
mortar  of  rice.  But  if  he  cannot  even  accom- 
plish this  poor  task  regularly,  he  is  given  a 
hammer  and  left  to  break  stones  under  a shed 
with  the  twenty-nine  other  men  out  of  two  thou- 
sand who  could  not  earn  anything  else. 

Prisoners  employed  at  the  higher  classes  of 
labour  are  credited  with  one-tenth  of  the  sum  re- 
ceived for  their  handiwork.  But  as  the  work  was  * 
so  good  and  the  running  expenses  seemed  so 
light,  I was  much  surprised  to  learn  that  the 
prison  was  not  yet  self-supporting,  only  seven- 
tenths  of  the  total  cost  being  realized  from  the 


84 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


sale  of  prisoners’  work.  Another  curious  fact  is 
that  every  adult  prisoner  is  detained  for  six 
months  after  his  sentence  expires  if  he  is  not 
claimed  in  the  meantime  by  his  friends  ; and  until 
he  is  of  adult  age  if  he  has  not  reached  it  and  is 
unclaimed.  These  prisoners  wear  blue  instead  of 
red  after  their  sentences  have  expired. 

The  women’s  quarter  at  Ichigaya  is  separated 
from  the  men’s  by  a high  wooden  fence  and  gate- 
way guarded  by  a sentinel,  and  consists  of  two  or 
three  dormitories  and  one  large  comfortable  work- 
shop, where  all  are  employed  together  at  labour  let 
out  by  contract.  When  I was  there  they  were  all 
hemming  silk  handkerchiefs,  each  seated  upon 
the  matted  floor  before  a little  table,  and  very 
neat  they  all  looked,  and  very  pretty  some  of 
them,  with  their  loose  red  gowns  and  simply- 
twisted  hair.  “ Those  are  forgers,”  said  the 
offlcer,  pointing  to  three  of  them ; “ I do  not 
like  them  to  be  so  pretty.”  One  of  the  women 
had  a young  baby  playing  beside  her,  and  another 
of  them  as  she  glanced  up  at  us  showed  a face 
entirely  different  from  the  rest,  pale,  sad,  and 
refined,  and  I saw  that  her  hands  were  small  and  * 
very  white.  It  was  Hanai  Ume,  the  once  famous 
geisha  of  Tokyo,  famous  for  her  beauty,  her 


JAPANESE  JUSTICE, 


85 


samisen-^\2jmg,  her  dancing,  her  pride,  and  most 
famous  of  all  for  her  affaire  cT amour.  Two  years 
ago  a man-servant  managed  to  make  trouble 
between  herself  and  her  lover,  whom  she  ex- 
pected to  buy  her  out  of  the  life  of  a professional 
musician  at  anybody’s  call,  and  then  offered  to 


WAITING  FOR  THE  CONDEMNED. 

make  peace  again  between  them  on  his  own 
terms.  So  one  night  she  called  him  out  of  the 
house  and  stabbed  him  to  death  with  a kitchen- 
knife.  Now  music  is  mute  for  her,  and  song  is 
silent,  and  love  is  left  behind  ; she  will  hear  no 
saniisen  again  but  the  prison  bell,  and  of  all  the 


86 


THE  REAL  JAPAN, 


merry  world  around  her  she  will  know  no  more 
for  ever,  except  so  far  as  she  can  read  the  reflec- 
tion of  it  as  it  pales  and  fades  away  in  the  eyes  of 
some  companion  who  may  chance  to  join  her  for 
a while. 

To  the  gallows  is  an  easy  transkion,  as  it  is  a 
natural  conclusion.  In  a secluded  part  of  the 
grounds  at  Ichigaya  there  is  a forbidding  object 
like  a great  black  box,  raised  six  feet  from  the 
earth  at  the  foot  of  a long  incline  cut  in  the  grass. 
A sloping  walk  of  black  boards  leads  into  the  box 
on  the  left-hand  side.  The  condemned  criminal  is 
led  up  this  and  finds  himself  inside  upon  the  drop. 
The  rope  is  adjusted  and  the  cap  fitted,  and  then 
at  a signal  the  bottom  of  the  box  falls  back. 
Thus  the  Japanese  method  is  exactly  the  opposite 
of  our  own,  the  official  spectators,  including  a 
couple  of  privileged  reporters,  being  spared  the 
ghastly  details  of  the  toilette  on  the  scaffold,  and 
see  nothing  until  an  unrecognizable  corpse  is 
suddenly  flung  out  and  dangles  before  them. 
Last  year  this  gallows  sent  down  seven  for  its 
tale  of  men. 


IV. 


JAPANESE  EE  (/CAT/ON. 


6 


IV. 

JAPANESE  EDUCATION. 

“ J T is  intended,”  said  an 
official  address  to  the  people 
of  Japan  issued  in  1872  by 
special  order  of  His  Majesty 
the  Emperor,  ‘‘  that  hence- 
forth education  shall  be  so 
diffused  that  there  may  not 
be  a village  with  an  igno- 
rant family,  nor  a family 
with  an  ignorant  member.”  And  this  ideal  has 
been  faithfully  pursued  ever  since.  But  the  steep 
has  been  a hard  one  to  climb,  and  the  history  of 
the  Department  of  Education  shows  the  constant 
counter-marching,  or  rather  tacking,  by  which  the 
goal  has  been  brought  nearer  and  nearer.  Boards 
and  Departments  and  Offices  were  created  and 
abolished  ; codes  were  formulated  and  repealed ; 
individuals  were  appointed  and  dismissed  ; the 


90 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


very  name  of  every  function  and  the  man  who 
filled  it  has  changed  half  a dozen  times.  “ This 
was  revised  in  the  following  year,”  is  a sentence 
occurring  on  almost  every  page  of  the  official 
records.  Elementary  education  has  always  been 
fairly  diffused  among  the  Japanese,  and  it  is  so 
rare  a thing  to  find  even  in  the  lowest  class  a man 
or  woman  who  cannot  read  and  write,  that  I have 
no  doubt  the  proportion  of  illiteracy  is  higher  in 
Birmingham  or  in  Boston  than  it  is  in  Tokyo. 
When  Western  aspirations  came,  however,  the 
old  elementary  education  was  no  longer  good 
enough  for  these  Yankees  of  the  Pacific,  and  their 
difficulties  and  serpentine  course  have  sprung 
from  a characteristic  attempt  to  combine  in  one 
system  the  Board  Schools  of  England,  the  High 
Schools  of  America,  the  Normal  Schools  of 
France,  and  the  Universities  of  Germany. 

The  Japanese  educational  system  exhibits  two 
out  of  the  three  great  principles  of  national  in- 
struction : it  is  compulsory  and  secular.  It  is  not 
gratuitous.  It  consists  of  five  parts  : Kindergar- 
tens, Elementary  Schools,  Middle  Schools,  Special 
Schools,  and  University. 

The  Kindergarten  is  for  children  betw^een  the 
age  of  three  and  six.  There  are  130  in  Japan  at 


JAPANESE  EDUCATION  91 

present,  chiefly  in  the  large  towns,  without  count- 
ing the  Kindergarten  branches  of  the  Elementary 
Schools,  but  this  number  will  soon  be  greatly 
increased,  orders  having  been  issued  to  governors 
of  Cities  and  Departments  to  see  that  young 
children  attend  the  Kindergarten,  and  are  not 
admitted  to  elementary  instruction  at  an  immature 
age. 

The  Elementary  Schools  are  of  two  kinds, 
Ordinary  and  Higher.  Attendance  at  the  former 
for  thirty-two  weeks  yearly  is  compulsory  upon  all 
children  between  six  and  ten,  and  Morals,  Read- 
ing, Writing,  Composition,  Arithmetic,  and 
Gymnastics,  with  Drawing  and  Singing  in  some 
cases,  are  taught.  The  latter  is  an  optional 
course  of  four  years  more,  in  which  instruction  is 
added  in  Geography,  History,  Physics,  the  Eng- 
lish Language,  Agriculture,  and  Commerce. 
There  is  also  a Simpler  Elementary  Course  of 
three  years  for  districts  so  remote  or  so  thinly 
populated  that  they  cannot  bear  the  expense  of 
the  longer  course.  The  comparative  shortness  of 
the  compulsory  term  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
country  population  is  a poor  one,  and  yet,  owing 
to  the  action  of  Foreign  Governments  in  keeping 
the  hands  of  Japan  tied  fast  for  thirty  years  to 


92 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


export  and  import  tariffs  of  nominally  5 and  really 
3 per  cent.,  the  greater  part  of  Japanese  revenue 
has  to  be  unjustly  raised  by  the  taxation  of  the 
agricultural  class.  Each  school  district  must  be 
provided  with  Elementary  School  accommodation 
for  its  children.  If  there  exist  a satisfactory 
private  Elementary  School,  or  if  some  philan- 
thropic individual  will  endow  one,  well  and  good  ; 
if  not,  it  must  be  supported  by  the  school  fees, 
and  any  deficiency  made  up  out  of  the  local  rates. 
The  Simpler  Elementary  Schools  are  supported 
entirely  out  of  the  rates.  The  number  of  Ele- 
mentary Schools  is  29,233  (of  which  only  532  are 
private  ones),  with  3,233,226  pupils  and  97,316 
teachers,  and  the  total  expenditure  upon  this 
branch  of  instruction  last  census-year  was  8, 1 86, 700 
yen  or  ^1,259,500. 

The  Middle  Schools  are*  also  of  two  classes, 
Ordinary  and  Higher.  The  pupils  of  the  former 
must  be  over  twelve  and  have  completed  the 
Elementary  preparatory  course  or  be  prepared  to 
show  its  equivalent.  The  course  covers  five 
years,  and  includes  such  subjects  as  Ethics,  the 
Japanese  Language,  Chinese  Literature,  the  First 
Foreign  Language  (English),  the  Second  Foreign 
Language  (French  or  German)  or  Agriculture, 


JAPANESE  EEC/CATION 


93 


Geography,  History,  Mathematics,  Natural  His- 
tory, Physics,  Chemistry,  &c.  These  schools  are 
designed  to  prepare  pupils  either  for  practical 
occupations  or  for  the  higher  educational  institu- 
tions. Their  support  may  be  derived  from  their 
own  funds  or  from  local  taxes.  The  number  of 
these  (including  9 Higher  Female  Schools)  is  132, 
one  (at  Osaka)  belonging  to  the*  Government,  76 
to  Cities  and  Departments,  54  to  towns  and  vil- 
lages, and  2 to  private  individuals,  with  15,100 
pupils  and  1,060  instructors.  The  total  expendi- 
ture upon  Ordinary  Middle  Schools  was  417,252 
ye7t,  ^64,193.  The  weak  point  in  the  mainten- 
ance of  all  the  foregoing  Schools,  besides  the 
extraordinary  changes  to  which  they  have  been 
subjected,  is  that  they  are  always  subject  to  the 
success  or  otherwise  of  the  crops,  as  the  amount 
of  local  taxation  must  be  dependent,  among  a poor 
agricultural  people,  upon  their  yearly  prosperity. 
There  is  only  one  cure  for  this,  the  accumulation 
of  permanent  school  funds,  and  the  millionaires 
of  Japan,  of  whom  there  are  plenty,  could  not 
exercise  their  patriotic  generosity  in  so  good  a 
direction  as  this. 

All  the  foregoing  schools  are  to  a'considerable 
extent  under  popular  control,  subject  to  the 


94 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


Governors  of  Cities  and  Departments,  whose 
actions  again  are  directed  and  strictly  prescribed 
by  the  regulations  of  the  Department  of  Educa- 
tion. At  this  point,  however,  we  enter  upon  the 
higher  educational  system  entirely  controlled  by 
the  central  authority. 

The  Higher  Middle  School  corresponds  to  the 
Academical  Department  of  an  American  Univer- 
sity. Candidates  for  admission  must  be  over  1 7, 
and  have  either  completed  the  Ordinary  Middle 
School  course  or  show  its  equivalent,  and  they 
must  bring  high  testimonials  of  personal  character. 
The  course  covers  two  years  and  besides  advanced 
studies  in  the  subjects  taught  before,  others  such 
as  Latin,  Zoology,  Botany,  Geology,  Mineralogy, 
Dynamics,  Surveying  and  Philosophy  are  added. 
There  is  now  also  a Medical  Department  of  each 
of  these  schools,  where  an  efficient  Medical 
Education  is  given,  and  Law,  Literature,  and 
Engineering  may  also  be  added  to  any  school. 
There  are  five  Higher  Middle  Schools  in  Japan, 
at  Tokyo,  Sendai,  Osaka,  Kanagawa  (Yokohama), 
and  Yamaguchi,  and  the  total  cost  last  census- 
year  was  300,000  .;^4b,t50  equally  divided 

between  local  taxes  and  the  Department  of  Edu- 


cation. 


JAPANESE  EDUCATION  95 

It  follows  that  the  University  is  German  in  its 
methods,  and  as  I have  said  elsewhere,  after 
Japanese,  German  is  the  language  talked  there. 

It  consists  simply  of  five  “Colleges”  for  special 
professional  studies,  with  a degree  accompanying 
graduation  in  each.  These  are  the  Colleges  of 
Law  (including  Politics),  of  Medicine,  of  Engi- 
neering, of  Literature,  and  of  Science,  and  so 
technical  is  all  University  work  here  that  this 
year  there  were  only  two  graduates  from  the 
College  of  Literature.  Candidates  for  admission 
must  possess  a certificate  of  graduation  from  one 
of  the  Higher  Middle  Schools  or  be  able  to  show 
its  equivalent  on  examination,  and  the  course 
covers  four  years  for  medicine  and  three  years 
for  other  subjects.  Special  students  are  admitted 
to  an  institution  called  University  Hall  for  a two  ^ 
years’  special  investigation  of  some  specified 
subject,  for  which  a degree  is  given,  and  there 
are  many  loan  scholarships  for  impecunious  de- 
serving students.  But  curiously  enough,  although 
the  plan  is  so  thoroughly  German  as  regards 
methods  of  study  and  qualification  for  degrees, 
the  discipline  is  more  strict  than  in  any  other 
country,  and  the  students  are  treated  even  more 
like  irresponsible  boys  than  University  students 


96 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


are  in  England.  They  must  reside  either  in 
the  dormitories  or  in  approved  boarding-houses  ; 
they  can  only  remain  outside  bounds  until  7 
p.m.,  or  10  p.m.  on  the  night  before  any  holi- 
day ; they  may  wear  no  dress  but  the  college 
uniform — a semi-military  suit  and  cap  of  grey 
cloth ; they  may  receive  no  visitors  except 
in  the  room  set  apart  for  the  purpose ; they 
may  not  bring  intoxicating  liquors  into  the 
dormitories  or  smoke  in  their  bedrooms ; the 
University  gates  are  shut  at  ti  p.m.  and  any 
student  not  in  at  that  time  must  present  an 
explanatory  letter  from  one  of  his  sureties  before 
ten  o’clock  on  the  following  morning ; he  must 
provide  two  solid  sureties  responsible  for  him 
in  all  matters  involving  his  connection  with  the 
University,  either  of  which  must  be  replaced  if 
he  is  absent  from  Tokyo  for  more  than  four 
weeks.  The  Japanese  student,  in  fact,  is  not 
a man  in  the  sense  that  the  American  or  German 
student  is  and  is  supposed  to  be,  or  that  the 
English  student  generally  is  without  being  sup- 
posed to  be.  In  his  work,  indeed,  he  is  a man 
who  would  reflect  credit  on  any  educational 
institution,  but  in  his  experience  he  is  only  a raw 
youth.  He  knows  nothing  of  the  world ; there 


JAPANESE  EE  [/CATION 


97 


is  nothing  in  Tokyo  to  show  it  to  him  except 
such  a “ world  ” as  may  be  viewed  through  an 
occasional  bit  of  stolen  dissipation  at  a tea-house  ; 
and  his  position  among  his  countrymen  is  so 
novel  that  no  wonder  his  head  is  full  of  wild 
notions  about  society  in  general  and  his  own 
particular  ability  and  call  to  alter  it.  His 
manners  are  usually  very  bad — worse  than  any 
other  class  of  his  countrymen.  He  has  especially 
distinguished  himself  of  late  by  deliberate  acts  of 
flagrant  rudeness  to  foreigners.  A partial  expla- 
nation of  all  this  has  been  alleged  in  the  fact  that 
“in  Japan  it  usually  happens  that  students  from 
distant  provinces,  like  Kiushiu  and  Akita,  do  not 
see  their  parents  for  years  in  succession.  They 
are  thus  left  absolutely  to  themselves  in  the  rest- 
less capital,  and  it  is  little  wonder  if  they  grow 
rough  in  manners  and  intemperate  in  principles. 
The  genial  influence  of  woman,  without  whom 
culture  is  impossible,  never  beams  upon  them, 
and  one  whole  side  of  their  nature  is  left  uncul- 
tivated.” The  students  themselves  greatly  dis- 
like the  regulations  of  the  University,  and 
there  was  almost  a riot  when  they  were  screwed 
up  to  their  present  strictness  five  years  ago, 
resulting  in  over  a hundred  men  being  expelled 


98 


THE  REAL  JAPAN, 


together.  “ Such  rules  are  a mistake,”  said  one 
of  the  students  to  me  loftily ; “ the  good  do 
not  need  them  and  the  cunning  evade  them.” 
There  is  much  truth  in  the  remark,  and  most 
countries  have  learned  that  it  is  no  use  having 
a man  at  a University  unless  and  until  he  has 
learned  to  take  care  of  himself.  Even  if  the 
relaxing  of  the  rules  should  necessitate  a stricter 
standard  of  admission  to  the  University  and  a 
consequent  decrease  in  the  number  of  students, 
that  would  be  no  great  evil.  It  is  a broadening 
of  the  base  of  education  that  Japan  needs  most; 
among  a people  so  intelligent  and  so  ambitious 
as  hers  there  will  nev^er  be  any  lack  of  polishing 
at  its  apex.  Another  significant  fact  is  that  the 
University  Calendar  (which  is  a facsimile  of  the 
Harvard  Catalogue)  states  the  necessary  expenses 
of  any  student  residing  in  the  dormitories  or 
authorised  boarding-houses,  and  including  tuition- 
fee  (2J  yen,  7s.  6d.  per  month),  cost  of  living, 
fire,  and  light,  to  range  from  a maximum  of  12 
yen  to  a minimum  of  7J  yen  a month — £1  i6s. 
to  2s.  6d. ! The  following  are  the  numbers  of 
students  on  the  roll  this  year  (all  the  statistics 
which  follow^  are  of  1888)  : — 


JAPANESE  EEC/CAT/ON  99 

College  of  Law  and  Politics  304 

College  of  Medicine  211 

College  of  Engineering  105 

College  of  Literature  36 

College  of  Science  40 

University  Hall  25 


Total  (excluding  24  counted  more  than  once)  697 

The  number  of  professors  and  instructors  is  about 
120,  of  whom  16  are  foreigners,  and  the  expen- 
diture upon  the  University  last  census-year  was 
3^6,935  yen — ^;^59,530.  A Japan  statistician  has 
calculated  that  subjects  and  students  in  all  Japan 
are  related  in  these  proportions  ; — 

Jurisprudence  and  Literature,  7,578;  Medicine, 
1,568  ; Engineering,  Technology,  and  Art,  i,ii8; 
Sciences,  1,694;  Commerce  and  Book-keeping, 
2,075  i Agriculture  and  Dendrology,  895  ; Mili- 
tary and  Naval  Science  and  Arts,  1,073  5 Ordi- 
nary Education  (mostly  English),  114,844. 
These  figures  relate  to  male  students. 

Among  Japanese  writers  the  student  class 
receives  a good  deal  of  severe  criticism.  Here  is 
a specimen  of  intelligent  disapproval  : — 

. “Among  the  38,114  students  of  Japan,  6,899 
are  domiciled  in  Tokyo,  so  that  the  number  of 
those  coming  from  other  localities  is  31,215. 


lOO 


THE  REAL  JAPAN, 


Some  of  these  latter  look  for  support  to  relatives 
or  friends  in  the  capital,  but  the  number  of  youths 
having  such  means  of  subsistence  is  extremely 
small,  and  steadily  decreasing.  Most  of  the 
students  are  dependent  on  their  parents  or  rela- 
tives in  the  country,  and  are  disbursing  in  the 
capital  money  brought  from  the  provinces.  The 
amounts  which  individual  students  spend  vary 
from  seven  or  eight  yen  to  about  fifteen  yen  per 
month.  Taking  the  average,  it  may  be  assumed 
that  each  student  spends  ten  yeit  a month,  or  a 
hundred  and  twenty  yen  a year.  Thus  the  total 
amount  of  money  annually  disbursed  by  these 
lads  is  a little  over  3,700,000  yen.  In  other 
words,  money  aggregating  over  three  millions 
and  a half  is  being  yearly  drawn  from  the  pro- 
vinces to  the  capital  through  this  channel.  What 
do  the  provinces  receive  in  return  ? Nothing,  or 
very  nearly  nothing,  for  few  of  the  students  ever 
return  to  their  homes,  their  sole  ambition  being 
to  remain  in  the  capital,  and  there  rise  to 
eminence  in  some  walk  of  life.  The  few  who- 
drift  back  to  their  provinces  are  the  worst  speci- 
mens of  the  class,  lads  who,  being  neither  enter- 
prizing  nor  intelligent  enough  to  join  the  ambi* 
tious  race  in  the  city,  are  not  likely  to  accomplish 
much  in  the  country  either.” 


JAPANESE  EE  ^CATION 


lOI 


But  the  part  of  their  educational  system  to 
which  the  Japanese  attach,  and  rightly,  the 
greatest  importance  at  the  present  time,  is  the 
detached  series  of  Normal  Schools.  Plenty 
of  competent  and  well-trained  teachers  for  Ele- 
mentary Schools,  that  is  what  they  need  above 
all  things,  and  that  they  are  in  a fair  way  to 
secure  soon.  There  is  a higher  Normal  School 
at  Tokyo,  and  an  Ordinary  Normal  School  in 
each  City  and  Department.  The  former  educates 
teachers  for  the  latter,  and  the  latter  educates 
Elementary  School  teachers.  The  course  is  3 
years  for  the  Higher  and  4 years  for  the  Ordinary 
School.  Candidates  are  selected  with  great  care, 
betw’een  the  ages  of  1 7 and  20,  all  their  expenses, 
personal  as  well  as  academic,  even  to  their  weekly 
allowance  of  pocket  money,  being  borne  by  the 
State  or  the  public  taxes,  and  in  return  male 
graduates  of  the  Normal  Schools  are  under  obli- 
gation to  serve  in  schools  for  lo  years  after 
graduation  and  for  three  years  in  any  schools  to 
which  the  Department  of  Education  may  appoint 
them,  and  female  graduates  are  under  similar  obli- 
gations for  five  years  and  two  years  respectively. 
There  is  one  Higher  Normal  School  and  one 
Female  Normal  School  at  Tokyo,  and  63  in 


102 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


Other  parts  of  Japan,  of  which  14  are  for  women  ; 
the  total  number  of  pupils  is  6,375  rnale  and 
895  female  ; and  the  total  public  expense  of  this 
branch  last  census-year  was  612,085  yen,  or 
/94,i67. 

Finally,  besides  all  the  foregoing,  there  are 
no  fewer  than  103  special  schools,  with  583  in- 
structors and  8,913  pupils.  Of  these  4 belong 
to  the  Government,  49  are  public  and  50  private, 
and  among  them  may  be  mentioned  the  Tokyo 
Foreign  Language  School,  the  Tokyo  Law 
School,  the  Tokyo  Industrial  School,  the  High 
Commercial  School,  the  Gymnastic  Institution, 
and  the  Institute  of  Music.  Of  the  old  worthless 
Miscellaneous  Schools  over  all  Japan,  which  the 
Department  of  Education  declines  to  classify, 
and  most  of  which  teach  only  Japanese  and 
Chinese  literature,  there  are  about  1,300. 

To  complete  the  picture,  however,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  point  out  that  not  a few  acute  Japanese 
cities  consider  there  is  a fatal  flaw  in  the  whole 
system.  “ Education  in  this  country,”  says  one 
of  them,  “ is  the  exclusive  property  of  the  middle 
classes,  specially  the  shizoku.  It  is  rapidly  be- 
coming more  and  more  high-class.  It  is  producing 
a race  of  scholars  who  have  no  property,  and 


JAPANESE  EDUCATION  103 

does  nothing  in  the  way  of  enlightening  the  real 
owners  of  property. . And  as  for  the  lower 
orders,  they  are  lapsing  more  and  more  into 
ignorance.” 

As  regards  the  spirit  of  Japanese  education, 
that  was  summed  up  for  me  in  three  words  by 
H.  E.  Count  Mori,  Minister  of  Education,  who 
has  since  fallen  a victim  to  the  dagger  of  a con- 
servative fanatic,  for  some  actual  or  imagined 
breach  of  the  old  religious  ceremonial  law.  '‘It 
is  our  aim,”  he  said,  to  inculcate  and  develop 
three  qualities  in  our  people-^obedience,  sym- 
pathy, and  dignity,”  and  I have  since  found  these 
words  recurring  like  a shibboleth  through  all  the 
publications  of  his  department.  “ Obedience,” 
His  Excellency  added,  “ because  only  through 
obedience  come  regularity  and  serenity  of  life. 
Our  people  are  irregular  at  present,  and  the  in- 
fluence of  our  rebellion  ten  years  ago  has  been 
widespread,  for  one  thing,  in  making  them  so. 
Therefore  obedience  ranks  first  among  the  quali- 
ties they  need.  Sympathy  we  must  inculcate, 
because  it  is  the  crowning  virtue  of  civilization, 
and  the  indispensable  basis  of  the  democracy  we 
hope,  like  other  nations,  to  become.  Our  people 
have  emerged  too  recently  from  feudalism  to  pos- 


104 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


sess  sympathy  in  any  great  degree,  and  without 
sympathy  the  best  man  is  but  a savage.  Finally, 
dignity  is  the  handle  of  all  the  blades  of  character.- 
The  Japanese  are  an  impulsive  people,  and  now 
that  they  are  about  to  meet  the  outside  world  on 
equal  terms  for  the  first  time,  the  value  of  dignity 
cannot  be  over-estimated.  These  three,  again, 
are  the  characteristic  of  an  ideal  army — in- 
variable obedience,  perfect  sympathy  of  high 
with  low,  and  low  with  high,  equal  dignity  in 
victory  and  in  defeat.  To  aid  in  their  develop- 
ment, therefore,  we  have  established  military  drill 
in  our  schools.” 

This  is  how  the  statesmen  of  Japan  are  fulfill- 
ing their  self-imposed  task  of  educating  the  nation, 
and  certainly  it  is  an  astonishing  spectacle  of  en- 
lightenment and  perseverance.  Other  nations 
have  an  educational  system  which  has  grown  up 
within  them  during  many  years  ; their  common 
people  have  been  familiar  with  school  needs  and 
school  duties  from  childhood  ; neighbouring  na- 
tions furnish  a perpetual  educational  challenge. 
Japan  had  none  of  these  advantages.  Alone  of 
all  the  nations  of  Asia,  she  determined  that  her 
people  should  have  the  knowledge  of  the  West 
and  the  power  that  Western  knowledge  brings. 


JAPANESE  ED  UCA  TION  1 05 

and  so  she  has  thrust  aside  all  difficulties  in  de- 
vising and  developing  her  eclectic  system  and  is 
now  supporting  it  with  persistence  and  generosity 
which  put  more  than  one  European  nation  to 
shame.  Nothing  that  I have  seen  in  Japan  was 
more  striking  or  more  significant  than  the  class  of 
thirty-five  girls,  from  ten  to  thirteen  perhaps, 
taught  by  an  American  lady,  writing  excellent 
English  on  the  blackboard,  and  little  Miss  Tomita 
reciting  in  her  low,  sweet  voice,  and  with  a de- 
licious little  foreign  accent  and  pitiful  moue,  “ ‘ I 
am  hungry,  very  hungry,’  said  the  spider  to  the 
fly.”  At  the  University  itself  I saw  in  vacation 
time  dozens  of  young  men  engaged  in  indepen- 
dent investigation  of  abstruse  questions  in  medi- 
cine and  chemistry  and  physic;  I visited  labora- 
tories fitted  with  apparatus  for  studying  any  problem 
known  to  the  scientific  world  to-day  ; I found  that 
in  five  years’  time  there  will  hardly  be  a position 
involving  high  practical  scientific  knowledge  filled 
by  a foreigner  in  Japan — the  architects,  the  naval 
architects,  the  engineers,  the  mining  and  railway 
and  sanitary  engineers,  the  chemical  and  agricul- 
tural experts,  the  physicians  and  surgeons,  the 
assayers  and  masters  of  the  mint,  all  will  be  the 
graduates  of  this  Tokei  Daigakko ; I walked 


io6 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


through  the  great  hospital  of  the  Medical  School 
with  its  long  wards  and  pretty  white-robed  nurses  ; 
and  I received  a hundredweight  of  the  “Journals  ” 
of  the  different  branches  of  the  University,  filled 
with  articles  in  English  and  French  and  German 
on  subjects  so  abstruse  and  technical  that  the  very 
titles  of  many  of  them  were  incomprehensible  to 
me.  But  I always  came  back  to  the  thought  of 
sweet  little  Miss  Tomita  and  her  very  hungry 
spider,  as  the  one  thing  which  implies  and  pro- 
mises most  for  the  civilization  and  the  future 
of  Japan. 


JAPAN  AS  AN  EASTERN  POWER. 


• * 


j 


' V. ’ 

JAPAN  AS  AN-  EASTERN  POWER. 

separation  of  civili- 
zation' and  soldiering  has 
not  yet  come.  Therefore 
when  Japan  awoke  to 
Western  civilization,  she 
began  by  the  study  and 
adoption  of  its  conscription 
and  its  cannon,  its  tactics 
and  its  breechloaders.  The 
result  may  be  classed  among 
the  modern  wonders  of  the 
AN  OLD  WARRIOR.  world.  The  arsenal  of 
Koishikawa  is  Woolwich  on  a smaller  scale,  with 
loo  rifles  and  70,000  cartridges  for  its  day’s  work  ; 
the  dockyard  at  Yokosuka  is  not  behind  Woolwich 
and  Portsmouth  in  much  except  size,  and  first-rate 
torpedo  boats  and  the  most  elaborate  modern 
ordnance  are  turned  out  there  with  the  regularity 
of  Armstrong  or  Krupp  ; the  Armstrong  cruisers 


I lO 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


lying  off  Tokyo  Bay  are  among  the  finest  vessels 
of  their  class  afloat,  and  could  make  matchwood 
of  many  vessels  here,  and  they  are  manned 
and  officered  entirely  by  Japanese  seamen  ; 
while  the  War  Department  has  at  least  forty 
thousand  men  under  arms  at  this  moment, 
and  on  a declaration  of  war  could  put  one 
hundred  thousand  troops  of  all  arms,  and  per- 
haps many  more,  in  the  field,  with  weapons 
equal  to  any  carried  to-day  except  the  latest  re- 
peating rifles,  all  of  whom  would  have  served  at 
least  a year  with  the  colours,  and  the  majority  for 
three  years,  and  who  would  make  a desperate 
fight  against  any  army  in  the  world.  Yet  twenty- 
five  years  ago  Japanese  soldiers  wore  huge  gro- 
tesque iron  mask  helmets  to  frighten  the  enemy, 
chain  and  lacquer  armour  to  turn  his  blows,  their 
great  shoulder-cannon  would  have  been  antiquated 
in  England  at  the  time  of  the  Armada,  and  they 
were  led  by  a man  with  a fan  ! Of  course  the 
Japanese  military  reorganizers  were  able  to  draw 
upon  a large  class  accustomed  to  the  use  of  arms, 
to  prepare  the  way  for  conscription,  and  the 
Japanese  have  always  had  a taste  for  fighting,  but 
after  every  allowance  the  rate  of  progress  is 
simply  marvellous. 


JAPAN  AS  AN  EASTERN  PO IVER. 


Ill 


• Is  there  any  reason  for  this  sudden  apparition 
of  a Japan  in  arms?  The  authorities  here  think 
so,  and  they  have  received  one  or  two  warnings 
of  late  that  seem  to  them  incentives  to  continue 
their  efforts.  China,  who  regards  Japan  as  a 
traitor  to  Asia  (which  fortunately  she  is),  is  a 
perpetual  anxiety,  if  not  a menace,  and  in  the 
Riu  Kiu  (commonly  called  Loo  Choo)  Islands 
and  in  Korea  there  have  been  already  misunder- 
standings of  a threatening  character,  while  the 
question  of  Chinese  immigration,  which  Japan 
will  have  to  face  as  other  nations  have  done, 
as  soon  as  Treaty  Revision  comes  up  for 
final  settlement,  looms  unpleasantly.  Moreover, 
Japanese  statesmen  believe  that  sooner  or  later 
somebody  will  want  to  take  Korea,  and  they 
desire  to  be  in  a position  when  that  day  comes  to 
preserve  the  neutrality  of  Japan,  or  if  necessary 
to  offer  an  alliance  to  England  or  the  United 
States,  or  Russia,  or  China,  as  may  best  suit 
them,  that  will  decide  for  ever  the  mastery  of  the 
Pacific.  For  the  Pacific  is  destined,  they  know, 
to  be  the  theatre  of  great  events  not  very  far  off, 
and  the  Japanese  alliance  will  be  the  key  of  the 
Pacific.  It  is  hardly  needful  to  add  that  the 
necessity  for  an  alliance  is  far  more  probable  for 


II2  - > THE  REAL  /ARAN.- 

Japan  than  the  option  of*  neutrality.  Her  army 
and  navy  are  therefore  well  worth  the  attention  of 
European  and  American  ‘ statesmen  at  this  mo- 
ment, and  by  the  kindness  of  H.  E.  Count  Oyama, 
Minister  of  War,  and  H.  E.  Count  Saigo,  Minister 
of  the  Navy,  who  supplied  me  with 'all  the  official 
statistics  necessary,  and  afforded  me  abundant 
opportunities  of  personal  inspection,  I can  give 
what  I have  reason  to  believe  a completer  and 
more  accurate  account  of  the  naval  and  military 
condition  of  Japan  than  has  yet  been  published. 

By  the  abolition  of  the  Daimios,  or  feudal  lords, 
at  the  Restoration  in  1868,  a voluntary  and  pa- 
triotic process  which  reduced  their  enormous  in- 
comes by  90  per  cent.,  and  therefore  rendered 
them  unable  to*  maintain  any  longer  their  large 
armies  of  retainers,  the  Sa’murai,  a proud  and 
well-born  class  of  fighting  men,  extremely  skilled 
in  the  use  of  the  terrible  Japanese  sword,  and  com- 
prising 10  per  cent,  of  the  whole  population,  found 
their  occupation  gone.  It  was,  therefore,  easy 
to  enrol  them  into  an  >army.  But  although 
they  were  born  fighters,  brave'to  a fault  and  faith- 
ful to  one  of  the  most  punctilious  codes  of  honour 
that  has  ever  been  devised,,  their  employment  as 
units  of  a modern  army  was  attended  with  this 


JAPAN  AS  AN  EASTERN  PO  WER.  1 13 

great  difficulty,  that  they  found  themselves  fre- 
quently subordinated  in  position  to  men  who  were 
their  social  inferiors,  and  who,  except  for  the 
uniforms,  would  have  been  compelled  to  “pay  them 
every  respect.  Discipline,  therefore,  was  hard  to 
preserve,  and  the  enrolment  of  the  Samurai  only 
served  to  fill  the  gap  necessarily  intervening 
between  the  two  poles  of  feudalism  and  con- 
scription. The  latter  became  law  in  Japan  in 
1874,  when  the  modern  system  may  strictly  be 
said  to  begin.  The  army  regulations  were  revised 
and  the  forces  increased  by  the  official  edicts  of 
December  28th,  1883,  and  these  constitute,  of 
course  with  many  subsequent  alterations  and 
additions,  the  Japanese  military  system  of  to-day. 

The  first  article  decrees  universal  conscription  : 
“ Every  male  inhabitant  of  the  country  will  be 
subject  to  military  service  from  17  to  40  years  of 
age.”  The  Japanese  land  forces  are  divided  into 
a.  Standing  Army  ; b.  Standing  Army  Reserve  ; 
c.  Reserves;  d.  Territorial  Army.  And  the 
military  service  thus  decreed  consists  of — 

a.  3 years  with  the  colours,  i.e.,  in  the  Standing  Army. 

” A 4 years  in  the  Standing  Army  Reserve. 

^ c.  5 years  in  the  Reserves. 

. d.  11  years  in  the  Territorial  Army. 


1 14  THE  REAL  JAPAN. 

The  total  service  being  thus  theoretically  for  23 
years — the  interval  between  1 7 and  40 — but  prac- 
tically for  twelve,  for  while  the  forces  b.  and  c. 
are  required  to  join  the  colours  for  sixty  days 
each  year,  the  Territorial  Army  is  called  out 
only  in  case  of  war  or  grave  emergency.  Special 
provision  is  made  for  men  between  17  and  20 
possessed  of  certain  educational  certificates,  cor- 
responding to  the  French  volontaires  German 
FreiwilligejZj  who  are  permitted  to  volunteer  for 
one  year’s  service  at  a time,  supporting  and 
clothing  themselves.  “ Should  they  acquire 
rapid  proficiency,”  however,  the  Regulations  add, 
“ they  may  be  allowed  to  quit  the  ranks  after 
a few  months.”  This  seems  extraordinary,  but 
exceptional  intelligence  is  so  common  in  Japan 
— if  the  paradox  be  permitted — that  allowance 
is  almost  always  made  for  it.  A conscription 
rigidly  enforced,  however,  would  supply  each 
year  far  more  recruits  than  the  government 
desires  to  enrol,  the  calculation  being  that 
210,000  youths  are  annually  amenable  to  ser- 
vice. A sweeping  system  of  exemptions  was 
accordingly  devised,  and  this  is  perhaps  the 
weakest  point  of  the  Japanese  method,  for  as 
has  often  been  remarked  in  discussing  conscrip- 


JAPAN  AS  AN  EASTEPN  PO  WEE.  1 1 5 

tion,  the  more  the  exemptions,  the  greater  the 
unpopularity  of  the  service.  The  following  list 
of  exempt  persons  shows  how  loosely  the  net  is 
thrown,  and  there  are  many  other  classes  of  ex- 
emption. (i)  All  maimed  and  deformed  persons 
are,  of  course,  permanently  exempt,  and  those 
who  do  not  reach  the  prescribed  height  of  4 ft. 
II J in.  are  exempt  until  specially  required  ; (2) 
one  of  two  brothers  simultaneously  called  on,  or 
a man  having  a brother  already  serving ; (3) 

the  brother  of  a man  who  has  died  or  been 
permanently  disabled  while  with  the  colours  ; (4) 
heirs  of  heads  of  families  who  are  over  sixty  or 
who  are  deformed  or  otherwise  incapable  of 
managing  their  affairs,  and  those  next  in  the 
direct  line ; (5)  heads  of  families;  (6)  priests; 

(7)  teachers  and  professors  in  public  schools 
or  'colleges  ; (8)  students  of  officially  recognized 
educational  institutions  (this  wide  exemption 
dealt  an  almost  fatal  blow  at  private  schools)  ; 
(9)  persons  whose  civil  rights  have  been  sus- 
pended; (10)  persons  practising  medicine  with 
official  diplomas;  (ii)  members  of  city  and 
prefectural  assemblies  ; (12)  government  officials 
whose  duties  cannot  be  performed  by  others. 
Even  after  the  exemption,  however,  of  these 


ii6  . THE  REAL  JAPAN. 

persons  and  others,  comprising-  in  all  no  less  than 
40  per  cent,  of  the  whole  mumber  liable  to  serve, 
(in  .1887*  there  were  303,948  exemptions  out  of 
a total  of  777,972);  the  number  remaining  • is 
considerably  larger  than  can  be  absorbed.  A 
curious  and  original  system  of  “Supernumeraries” 
has  therefore  been  invented,  under  which  con- 
$cripts  drawing  supernumerary  tickets  serve  only 
one  year  and  are  then  drafted  in  the  ordinary 
course  into  the  First  Reserve  of  the  Standing 
Army,  unless  in  the  meantime  they  are  required 
to  fill  vacancies  in  the  regular  forces  serving  with 
the  colours  for  three  years.  There  is  accordingly 
no  fixed  number  of  these  “ Supernumeraries  ” at 
any  time,  but  just  as  many  as  remain  over  in 
any  year  from  the  men  called  upon  the  conscrip- 
tion, minus  the  exemptions,  after  the  regular 
standing  army  has  been  brought  up  to  the 
number  the  Minister  of  War  desires  to  have 
under  arms. 

The  organization  of  the  Japanese  army  differs 
slightly  from  that  of  European  forces,  and  there- 
fore I add  a brief  account  of  the  units  of  the 
chief  arms.  In  the  infantry,  a regiment  consists 
of  three  battalions  of  four  companies  each,  and 
on  a peace  footing  a company  is  made  up  of  5 


JAPAN  AS  AN ^EASTE'RN  TO  WER.  li  7 

officers,  27  non-commissioned  officers,  arid  1.60] 
privates — 192  irien  of  all  ranks.  On  a war 
footing  80  privates  are  added,  making  a total 
of  272  men.  A regiment  of  "infantry  on  a peace 
footing  consists  of  4 commanding  officers,  65 
officers,  349  non-commissioned  officers,  and  1,920 
privates,  in  all  (including  9 non-combatant  officers), 
2,347  ii^en,  and  12  horses.  On  a war  footing  the 
number  of  privates  is  raised  to  2,880.  In  cavalry 
a battalion  on  a peace  footing  comprises  159  men 
of  all  ranks  and  135  horses,  and  on  a war  footing 
189  men  and  140  horses.  In  artillery  a battery 
(two  of  which  form  a brigade,  instead  of  six  as 
with  us),  consists  of  148  men  of  all  ranks  (68 
active  and  80  reserve)  with  86  horses  and  4 
guns.  On  a war  footing  10  gunners  and  2 guns 
are . added.  A brigade  is  thus  composed  on  a 
peace  footing  of  i commanding  officer,  1 1 officers, 
51  non-commissioned  officers,  240  gunners  and 
9 non-combatant  officers — 306  of  all  ranks  with 
8 guns  and  180  horses.  On  a war  footing  this 
is  increased  to  326  men  with  12  guns  and  258 
horses.  The  artillery  is  armed  with  centi- 
metre guns  of  an  Italian  model,  manufactured 
at  the  Japanese  arsenal  at  Osaka. 

- The  Imperial  Guard,  a picked  corps  of  .all 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


ii8 

arms,  is  a distinct  force  permanently  quartered 
in  Tokyo.  In  uniform  it  is  distinguished  by  a 
red  band  around  the  cap,  all  other  troops  wearing 
a yellow  one.  It  is  composed  of  2 regiments 
of  infantry,  i battalion  of  cavalry,  i brigade  of 
artillery,  and  i company  of  engineers.  Besides 
the  troops  of  the  line  and  this  corps,  the  Military 
Academy  (Rikugun  Daigakko),  the  Military  or 
Staff  College  (Shikwan  Gakko),  and  the  Gendar- 
merie are  included  in  the  total  effective. 

The  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Japanese 
Army  is  H.  I.  H.  General  Prince  Arisugawa, 
the  uncle  of  the  Emperor.  He  is  the  Director, 
or  President  of  the  General  Staff  Office  (Sanbo 
Hombu),  a body  the  active  functions  of  which 
in  peace  and  war  correspond  to  our  War  Office. 
The  War  Department  is  presided  over  by  H.  E. 
General  Count  Oyama,  Minister  of  War,  and  its 
functions  are  those  of  our  Horse  Guards.  That 
is,  the  latter  collects  and  organizes  the  forces, 
the  former  directs  and  uses  them.  The  whole 
of  Japan  is  divided  for  military  purposes  into 
seven  districts,  each  of  which  is  occupied  by 
one  Legion,”, or  as  we  should  say,  one  Division, 
under  the  command  of  a General  Officer.  There 
are  to-day  only  six  foreign  officers  employed  in 


A Ceisha  Dancing.— III. 

{An  Instantaneous  Photograph). 


••  i 

-»  . 

-I' 


T 


I - 


4 


i 


■ C, 


JAPAN  AS  AN  EASTERN  PO  WER. 


I2I 


the  Japanese  Military  Service ; two  Germans, 
at  the  Military  Academy ; one  Frenchman  at 
the  Military  College;  one  Frenchman  at  the 
Toyama  School  of  Tactics,  &c.  ; one  Italian, 
superintending  the  making  of  Ordnance  at  Yoko- 
suka; and  one  French  bandmaster. 

The  practical  result  of  the  above  methods  of 
conscription  and  organization  is  a Japanese  army 
of  209,326  men  on  paper.  The  following  table, 
which  I have  compiled  from  the  extremely  elabo- 
rate and  detailed  official  statistics,  shows  in  simple 
form  all  the  component  parts  of  this,  and  their 
distribution.  The  statistics  are  those  of  1890, 


but  they  give  the  condition  of  the  forces  on 
December  31,  1887  : — 


Legion. 

I 


Strength. 


Head-  Geographical 

QUARTERS.  DIVISION. 

T5kyo Capital 9>2io 

Sendai  North  (Main  Island)...  8,920 

Nagoya East  centre 8,267 

Osaka Centre  8,655 

Hiroshima West  Centre  7>223 

Koumamoto  ...  South  7476 

Yezo  (Militia)  . North  (Island  of  Yezo)  1,461 


Imperial  Guard  (Quartered  at  Tokyo) 5>59i 


Military  Schools  2,910 

Gendarmes  i»376 

Reserves  101,273 

Territorial  Army 44»939 


Central  Staff. 


2,014 


Total  Effective  Strength 


56,803 

4,286 

146,212 

2,014 

209,326 


122 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


. The  personnel  of  this  total  is  as  follows  : — ; 


Staff  Commissioned  Non-Commissioned  Rank  and 
Officers.  Officers.  Officers.  File. 

450  ^ 3,360  10,391  193,804 

The  proportions  of  the  different  arms  of  the 
service  in  Japan,  active  and  reserve,  may  be  seen 
in  the  following  table  (I  have  omitted  the  Military 
Schools,  Central  Staff,  &c.)  : — 


Active. 


Infantry 38,089 

Cavalry  671 

Artillery 3,817 

Engineers  1,708 

Transport  548 

Gendarmes i,435 


Reserve. 

Total. 

64,293  

....  102,382 

788  

1,459 

4,064  ...... 

7,881 

1,814  ..... 

3,522 

54,458 

....  55,006 

I 

1,436 

Totals  ...  46,268  125,418  171,686 


These  are  the  statistics  of  1888,  giving  the 
figures  of  December  31,  1885.  It  is  impossible 
to  compile  this  table  from  the  figures  of  1890. 
The  proportions,  however,  probably  remain  about 
the  same. 

The  number  of  cavalry  shown  here  is  strangely 
disproportionate..  This  is  probably  because  it  is 
thought  that  in  military  operations  in  Japan  there 
would  be  very  little  scope  for  this  arm,  owing  to 
the  conformation  of  the  country  and  the  peculiar 
methods  of  agriculture.  Fifteen  hundred  mounted 


lAFAN  AS  AJV  EASTERN  PO  WER. 


123 


men,  however,  in  an  army  of  over  i 76,000,  would 
surely  be  quite  insufficient  to  perform  the  most 
meagre  outpost  and  escort  duties.  The  cavalry, 
however,  is  confined  to  Tokyo,  and  is  to  be  in- 
creased at  once,  I hear,  by.  2,700  sabres.  The 
enormous  disproportion,  too,  between  the  active 
and  reserve  transport  will  strike  most  readers. 
The  one  reserve  gendarme  is,  of  course,  a general 
officer. 

The  proportion  of  conscripts  per  1,000  inhabi- 
tants is  1 6*94  ; of  the  conscripts  themselves  only 
4*23  per  cent,  were  taken  for  active  service,  while 
40‘59  of  the  total  number  were  entirely  exempted. 

I make  no  attempt  here  to  estimate  what  actual 
number  of  fighting  men  could  be  put  in  the  field 
for  this  paper  strength  of  209,326.  That  is  a 
matter  upon  which  every  military  expert  will  have 
his  own  theory  of  shrinkage,  and  the  opinion  of 
anybody  else  is  worthless.  The  Military  Budget 
for  1889-90  (adding  half  of  the  extraordinary 
expenses  for  military  or  naval  services),  was 
13,413,0904/^#,  say  ^2,063,500,  but  probably  this 
Joes  not  represent  much  more  than  two-thirds  of 
the  total  annual  cost  of  the  Military  Establishment. 

I have  left  myself  comparatively  little  space  to 
speak  of  my  own  impressions  of  the  Japanese 


124 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


Army.  To  begin  with,  Tokyo  is  almost  as  full  of 
soldiers  as  Metz  ; there  is  hardly  five  minutes  in 
the  day  when  you  cannot  hear  a bugle  blown  some- 
where ; mounted  orderlies  are  always  trotting 
about ; sentries  stand  on  guard  almost  as  thick 
as  in  France ; and  the  groups  and  troops  of 
young  soldiers  in  their  white  summer  suits  and 
flat  German  caps,  with  red  or  yellow  bands,  soon 
become  the  most  familiar  objects  in  the  city. 
The  men  themselves  are  neither  so  short  nor  so 
slight  nor  so  well-behaved  as  I had  expected,  and 
their  resemblance  in  dress  and  face  and  build  to  a 
company  of  South  German  recruits  was  startling* 
at  first  sight.  In  their  gymnastics,  which  are  very 
regular  and  thorough,  they  are  as  good  as  Ger- 
mans, which  is  saying  a good  deal,  and  when 
stripped  for  these  they  show  solidly  built,  well- 
developed  bodies — exactly  what  Americans  call 
“stocky.”  The  rigid  precision  and  frequency  of 
their  salutes,  too,  would  satisfy  a continental  mar- 
tinet. But  the  one  paramount  impression  that 
is  left  by  a careful  and  fairly  complete  personal 
examination  of  the  Japanese  Army,  is  its  re- 
semblance to  similar  forces  at  home.  I visited 
almost  every  military  institution,  and  inspected 
every  arm  of  the  service,  expecting  always  to 


JAPAN  AS  AN  EASTERN  TO  JFER.  1 2 5 

find  something  new  to  describe — some  amusing 
or  picturesque  combination  of  East  and  West  to 
chronicle.  But  the  expectation  was  nowhere 
realized.  Everywhere  I went  and  everything  I 
saw — and  the  statement  of  this  is  perhaps  the 
best  return  I can  make  to  Captain  Mouraki  who 
accompanied  me,  and  the  commanding  officers 
who  so  willingly  and  so  courteously  turned  out 
their  men  for  my  inspection — I found  just  the 
same  appearance,  just  the  same  drill,  and  just  the 
same  discipline  as  exist  at  home.  I have  seen 
most  of  the  military  establishments,  and  many  of 
the  best  troops  of  England  and  the  Continent,  and 
however  dull  it  may  seem  I can  only  say  that  as 
regards  Japan  in  arms  there  is  nothing  whatever 
new  to  describe.  The  Japanese  Army,  in  fact,  is 
a European  force,  and  a body  of  any  arm  except 
the  cavalry,  which  would  look  small  and  ill- 
mounted,  might  march  through  any  town  of 
continental  Europe  without  being  much  remarked 
as  foreign  troops.  The  arsenal  at  Koishikawa,  as 
I have  said,  is  simply  Woolwich  on  a smaller 
scale,  and  its  English  machinery  turns  out  loo 
rifles^  and  30,000  cartridges  (70,000  if  necessary) 

^ As  the  question  of  the  best  rifle  is  being  so  widely  dis- 
cussed at  present,  a detailed  account  of  the  Japanese  rifle,  as 


126 


THE  ' REAL  JAPAN. 


per  day,'  and  its  artisans  manufacture  the  saddlery 
and  all  the  rest  of  the  equipment  with  exactly  the 
same  regularity  and  accuracy.  The  Military 
College  and  Academy  are  models  of  such  insti- 
tutions— “ One  of  the  foremost  of  similar  institu- 

designed  from  European  models  by  a Japanese  colonel,  may 
be  of  interest.  “ The  calibre  is  8 millimetres.  There  are  four 
grooves,  having  a depth  of  a quarter  of  a millimetre  and  a 
constant  twist  of  i in  235  millimetres.  The  breech  is  closed 
by  a bolt.  The  mechanism  of  the  repeating  portion  bears 
much  resemblance  to  the  Lebel  system.  The  magazine,  situ- 
ated under  the  barrel,  contains  eight  cartridges,  and  the  rifle, 
when  fully  loaded,  has  a ninth  cartridge  in  the  breech  and  a 
tenth  in  the  chamber.  The  piece  can  be  used  at  will  as  a 
non-repeater.  The  sights  are  graduated  up  to  2,000  metres  of 
range.  The  bayonet  is  a species  of  dagger,  weighing  324 
grammes,  and  having  its  blade  under  the  stock,  in  a transverse 
section.  The  rifle  weighs,  without  the  bayonet,  4'  1 70  kilometres ; 
its  length  is  i’22  metres.  The  cartridge  weighs  29*78  grammes, 
and  is  75'o5  millimetres  long;  it  has  a brass  socket.  The 
bullet  is  of  hardened  lead  with  a coating  of  copper ; it  weighs 
15*55  grammes,  and  is  30  millimetres  long.  The  powder, 
which  produces  little  smoke  and  makes  little  noise,  is  an 
invention  of  the  Japanese  Artillery  Committee ; the  charge  is 
only  2*2  grammes.  An  initial  velocity  of  610  metres  is 
obtained  with  this  charge;  the  remaining  velocity  being  250 
metres  at  a distance  of  1,000  metres  from  the  muzzle,  and  of 
150  metres  at  a distance  of  2,000  metres.  The  trajectory 
being  very  flat,  the  bullet  is  effective  throughout  a long  range. 
Experiments  as  to  accuracy  and  penetration  have  given  good 
results,  and  shown  that  the  extreme  range  is  about  3,300 
metres.” 


JAPAN  AS  A N EASTERN  PO  WER.  1 2 7 

tions  which  I have  seen  in  the  world,”  I saw  that 
General  Grant  had  written  in  the  visitors’  book  of 
one  of  them.  Particularly  was  this  the  case  at 
the  Toyama  College  of  Tactics,  &c.,  for  non-com- 
missioned officers,  where  I was  present  at  the 
annual  Imperial  inspection  of  platoon  firing,  firing 
at  moveable  targets,  fencing,  gymnastics,  &c.,  and 
at  the  conclusion  of  which  I had  the  honour  of 
being  presented  to  his  Majesty  the  Emperor. 
And  the  barracks  of  the  2nd  Brigade  of  the 
Imperial  Guard  which  I visited  were  just  like 
barracks  anywhere  else  in  the  world, — a good 
deal  better  than  many  of  our  wretched  barracks 
in  provincial  England,  allowance  being  made  for 
certain  national  differences  of  food  and  habits.  As 
for  the  performances  of  the  troops  themselves,  I 
have  never  seen  the  infantry  manual  and  platoon 
exercises  done  better,  and  I say  this  with  full 
recollection  of  seeing  crack  Prussian  infantry  at 
drill  every  day  for  months.  The  marching  and 
company  drill,  too,  was  first-rate.  If  one  made 
any  criticism  it  would  be  that  the  wheeling  in  line 
was  somewhat  unsteady,  and  that  the  marching  at 
ease  four  and  six  deep  through  the  streets  shows 
all  the  slovenliness  of  their  French  model.  The 
squadron  drill  of  the  cavalry  was  excellent  in  every 


128 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


respect,  and  the  men’s  seats  particularly  good, 
and  their  horses  particularly  well  in  hand,  but  the 
mounts  are  small  and  weedy,  and  therefore  this  arm 
is  the  least  effective  in  appearance.  Finally,  the 
battery  drill  of  the  artillery  as  I saw  it  would  be 
highly  creditable  anywhere.  The  two  batteries 
came  up  at  a gallop  with  perfect  steadiness,  wheeled, 
halted,  unlimbered,  came  into  “ action  front,”  and 
loaded  and  fired  with  a smartness  and  coolness 
and  rapidity  that  could  hardly  be  excelled,  and 
that  gave  evidence  of  the  most  thorough  and 
intelligent  drill.  ^ 

Japanese  critics,  it  is  fair  to  add,  are  by  no 
means  invariably  enthusiastic  or  particularly  well 
satisfied  on  this  subject.  “ The  Japanese  army 
was  organized,”  said  the  Choya  Shimbtm  recently, 

I add  one  more  statistical  item  from  the  marvellously 
detailed  and  accurate  official  figures  of  the  Japanese  Army, 
not  so  much  because  of  the  striking  character  of  the  fact 
itself,  but  also  because  of  the  appalling  comparison  it  affords 
with  similar  figures  concerning  our  own  forces.  So  far  as  the 
army  is  concerned,  it  seems  certain  that  public  opinion  in 
England  on  the  question  here  involved  must  undergo  a com- 
plete change.  The  item  is  this  : out  of  a total  number  of 
32,509  cases  of  illness  in  the  Japanese  Army  last  census  year, 
only  1,942  were  of  the  nature  considered  by  the  Contagious 
Diseases  Act,  that  is,  only  i'o5  per  cent.,  reckoning  only  the 
non-commissioned  officers  and  rank  and  file. 


/A PAN  AS  AN  EASTERN  PO  WER. 


129 


‘‘  with  the  idea  of  being  able  to  put  into  the  field 
at  any  moment  two  hundred  thousand  troops  of 
all  arms,  consisting  of  the  men  with  the  colours 
and  the  First  and  Second  Reserves.  But  the 
strength  of  the  First  and  Second  Reserves  at 
present  does  not  amount  to  even  one  half  of  the 


JAPANESE  ARTILLERY.  “ FIRE  ! ” 


contemplated  establishment,  and  the  cavalry  is  so 
deficient  in  numbers  that  it  does  not  represent  the 
force  required  to  serve  with  the  colours  alone.  It 
is  stated  that  if  the  three  bodies,  namely,  the 
troops  with  the  colours  and  the  First  and  Second 
Reserves,  were  moblized  to-morrow,  barely  a 


130  ' THE  REAL  JAPAN: 

hundred  and  forty  thousand  men  would  be  found 
available,  and  that  the  military  authorities  look 
forward  to  ten  years  as  the  time  that  must  elapse 
before  the  original  scheme  can  be  fully  carried 
out.  Among  officers  holding  high  rank,  as 
generals  and  colonels,  some  are  not  acquainted 
with  the  systems  of  strategy  and  tactics  employed 
in  the  present  era,  and  among  junior  officers 
some  have  had  no  actual  experience  in  the  field, 
though  their  standard  of  education  is  high.  Suffi- 
cient care,  too,  has  not  been  exercised  to  devise 
a system  of  promotion  by  merit,  and  the  result  is 
that  good  soldiers  find  themselves  holding  rank 
inferior  to  that  of  men  who  are  by  no  means  their 
equals  in  military  attainments  and  capacity.  With 
regard  to  the  private  soldiers,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  system  of  training  has  the  effect  of  trans- 
forming them  from  rough  and  uncouth  beings  into 
well  set-up  men  with  a certain  amount  of  educa- 
tion, and  that  the  new  scheme  of  conscription 
exercises  a beneficial  influence  on  the  mass  of  the 
nation.” 

The  Japanese  Navy  calls  for  much  less  descrip- 
tion than  the  Army,  for  its  organization  and  con- 
duct (except  a limited  conscription)  are  exactly 
those  of  England,  English  influence  and  advice 


JAPAN  AS  AN  EASTERN  PO  WER.  1 3 1 

having  guided  its  development  in  every  respect. 
Japanese  naval  affairs  are  conducted  with  great 
intelligence,  and  experts  assure  me  that  its  chief 
vessels  and  its  dockyards  offer  almost  no  oppor- 
tunity for  criticism.  With  the  exception  of 
Captain  John  Ingles,  R.N.,  naval  adviser,  the 
fleet  is  manned  and  officered  entirely  by  Japanese. 
It  consisted  (in  1887)  of  thirty-three  ships  of  all 
classes,  ten  built  in  England  and  fifteen  in  Japan. 
A good  many  of  these  are  now  obsolete  and 
comparatively  worthless,  but',  on  the  other  hand, 
a large  number  of  vessels  of  all  classes  are  build- 
ing in  England,  Erance,  and  Japan.  One  cruiser 
of  the  “ M ” class  is  building  at  Yokosuka,  one  on 
the  Clyde,  and  one  at  the  Eorges  et  Chantiers  ; 
and  fifteen  torpedo-boats  (of  the  kind  that  cap- 
sized at  the  French  manoeuvres)  in  Erance.  The 
following  six  constitute  at  present  the  sea-going 
squadron  : — 


Name. 

Construc- 

Displace- 

Horse- 

No.  OF 

Where 

tion. 

ment  Tons. 

Power. 

Guns. 

Built. 

Takachiho 

...  Steel 

3,650  .... 

..  7,500 

...  8 .. 

. England 

Naniwa 

...  Steel 

3,650  

..  7,500 

...  8 ... 

. England 

Foo-so  

3,717  •••• 

..  3,500 

...  6 .. 

. England 

Tsukushi  .... 

1,350  

2,400 

...  6 ... 

. England 

Kaimon 

...  Wood  ... 

1,358  

,.  1,250 

...  7 - 

, Japan 

Musashi  ... 

...  Composite  1,467  

,.  1.600 

...  7 ... 

Japan 

The  first  two  vessels  on  this  list  are  the  well- 


132 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


known  Armstrong  cruisers,  powerfully  armed  with 
two  35  cal.  lo-inch  guns,  six  35  cal.  6-inch  guns, 
two  six-pounder  quick-firing  guns,  and  a lot  of 
Nordenfeldts,  fitted  with  the  very  latest  and  best 
appliances,  and  representing  a few  years  ago  the 
highwater  mark  of  naval  construction.  They  show 
a mean  speed  of  18J  knots,  and  can  steam  9,000 
miles  at  13  knots  without  recoaling.  At  Yoko- 
suka there  are  three  docks,  in  length  316,  401, 
and  513  feet  respectively,  and  at  Nagasaki  are  the 
best  coaling  facilities  in  the  East,  coal  of  excellent 
quality  and  limitless  quantity  being  conveyed 
straight  from  the  mines  at  Takashima  and  stowed 
on  board  by  hand  with  extraordinary  speed. 
Until  1884  the  Japanese  Navy  was  recruited 
entirely  from  volunteers,  but  conscription  was 
introduced  in  that  year,  and  now  the  proportion 
of  men  is  800  volunteers  and  280  conscripts. 
The  term  of  service  for  the  former  is  seven  years, 
for  the  latter  three  years.  The  personnel  of  all 
ranks,  from  the  official  statistics  of  1887  is  as 
follows : — 


Ashore. 


Yokosuka  Dockyard  .... 
Onohama  Dockyard  .... 

Tokyo  Arsenal  

Tokyo  Powder  Factory 


JAPAN  AS  AN  EASTERN  PO  WER-.  133 


Afloat. 

Admirals  and  officers  of  corresponding  rank  20 

Superior  officers  189 

Officers  625 

Midshipmen,  &c 186 

Warrant  officers  212 

Petty  officers  1,568 

Men  7,504 


10,304 


Total  of  Naval  Establishment  ^5»585 

The  Naval  Budget  for  1888-90  (reckoned  as 
before  for  the  Army),  reached  6,91 1,81 3 say 
^1,063,350.  This  sum,  however,  fails  to  convey 
an  idea  of  the  whole  amount  Japan  is  devoting  to 
strengthening  her  naval  establishment.  A volun- 
tary contribution  fund  for  coast  defence  amounted 
to  ^406,421,  of  which  the  Emperor  himself  con- 
tributed ^60,000,  and  a few  weeks  after  the  issue 
of  the  estimates  for  the  financial  year  ending 
June  30,  1887,  a naval  loan  for  no  less  than 
17,000,0009'^;^,  say  ^2,617,000  was  announced. 
Of  this  large  sum,  however,  only  5,000,000  yen 
has  yet  been  offered  to  the  public,  in  5 per  cent. 
Navy  Bonds.  The  expenditure  of  Japan  upon 
her  armament  is  thus  enormous  in  comparison 
with  her  total  expenditure  (the  annual  cost  of  the 
Army  and  Navy  is  26*52  of  the  total  national 
expenditure),  and  there  is,  of  course,  in  Japan 


134 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


as  elsewhere,  a Radical  political  party  which 
strongly  protests  against  it.  But  as  Mr.  Trench, 
then  British  charge  d'affaires  in  Japan,  said  in 
one  of  his  masterly  and  interesting  financial  re- 
ports to  Lord  Salisbury,  “ at  a time  when  all  the 
civilized  Powers  of  the  world  seem  to  be  vying 
with  each  other  in  enlarging  their  powers  of  de- 
struction or  defence,  it  is  not  strange  that  Japan 
should  follow  the  lead  thus  given,  especially  when 
her  gigantic  and  usually  lethargic  neighbour  is 
displaying  an  unwonted  alacrity  and  energy  in 
the  same  direction.”  The  truth  is  that  among 
her  many  other  lessons  from  the  West,  Japan  has 
learned  very  well  that  whether  or  not  nowadays 
those  may  take  who  have  the  power,  at  any  rate 
only  those  may  keep  who  can.  And  she  does  not 
mean  to  lose  sight  of  it. 


ARTS  AND  CRAFTS  IN  JAPAN. 


VI. 


ARTS  AND  CRAFTS  IN  yAPAN. 

I.  AMONG  THE  TOKYO  ARTIFICERS. 

^HERE  is  hardly  a 
drawing  - room  in  London 
or  Paris  or  New  York  in 
which  there  are  not  objects 
of  Japanese  art,  and  yet 
not  until  you  reach  Japan 
do  you  discover  what  the 
craze  for  Japanese  “curios” 
really  is.  The  second 
thought,  if  not  indeed  the  first,  of  almost  every 
globe-trotter  who  comes  to  the  Land  of  the  Morn- 
ing, is  to  procure  some  Japanese  artistic  antiquities, 
either  to  add  to  the  beauty  and  interest  of  his 
own  home  or  to  excite  the  envy  of  other  collectors. 
The  air  is  full  of  talk  about  “ old  pieces  ” and 
“fine  bits”  and  “magnificent  specimens,”  and 

9 


138 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


when  two  tourists  meet  almost  the  first  question 
they  put  to  each  other  is  “ Have  you  bought 
much  ? ” Everybody  buys  something,  either  new 
or  old,  and  needless  to  say  in  many  cases  the 
former  passes  for  the  latter.  How  the  new  is 
made,  however,  and  by  whom,  or  what  chance 
there  is  of  finding  the  old  and  wherein  great  value 
may  consists,  the  vast  majority  of  travellers  know 
nothing  whatever.  So,  as  the  subject  of  Japanese 
art  is  attracting  universal  attention  at  the  present 
moment,  and  as  the  stream  of  travellers  is  con- 
stantly increasing  and  the  prices  of  all  curios 
therefore  rapidly  advancing,  it  may  be  interesting 
to  throw  some  light  on  the  above  points  from 
one’s  own  personal  examination  and  experience. 

In  riding  about  Tokyo  you  see  a number  of 
shops  exhibiting  collections  of  curios  and  bric-a- 
brac  for  sale,  but  these  are  fifth-rate  dealers  to 
whom  no  expert  buyer  ever  thinks  of  going,  and 
their  collections  are  not  much  above  those  of  our 
pawn-brokers  at  home.  Real  objects  of  art  are 
never  exhibited  by  the  dozen  in  Japan,  either  by 
dealers  or  private  owners.  A Japanese  gentleman 
keeps  his  collection  carefully  packed  away  in 
boxes  in  cotton-wool,  and  when  he  has  a guest 
coming  he  selects  a few  according  to  the  time 


AJ^TS  AND  CRAFTS  IN  JAPAN 


139 


of  year,  the  character  of  the  rooms  where  he 
proposes  to  place  them,  and  what  he  imagines 
to  be  the  taste  of  his  guest.  A dealer  keeps  his 
stock  in  a fire-proof  “ go-down  ” attached  to  his 
shop,  and  when  you  go  to  buy  he  invites  you 
upstairs  to  a private  room,  arranges  cushions  on 
the  floor  for  you,  regales  you  with  tea  and  sweet- 
meats, exchanges  a series  of  compliments  and 
small-talk,  and  after  twenty  minutes  or  half  an 
hour  he  claps  his  hands  and  his  boys  bring  the 
pieces  in  one  by  one,  extracting  each  in  turn 
from  its  box  and  soft  wrapper  of  old  brocade  or 
cloth  and  setting  it  before  you.  Your  inspection 
over,  it  is  delicately  wrapped  up  again.  These 
boxes  are  beautifully  made  and  are  carefully 
preserved  with  the  inscriptions  on  them  and  the 
wrappers,  all  of  which  furnish  some  evidence  of 
authenticity.  The  dealer  shows  you  what  he 
likes,  and  does  not  seem  to  care  at  all  whether 
you  buy  or  not.  And  it  is  not  much  use  to  ask 
him  to  show  you  any  particular  objects ; the 
process  is  a kind  of  collector’s  lucky-bag — you 
must  see  them  as  they  come  out  of  the  warehouse. 
Nor  is  it  worth  while,  as  you  soon  discover  to 
your  surprise,  to  bargain  with  him,  except  for 
articles  of  considerable  value.  If  he  shows  you 


140  THE  REAL  JAPAN. 

a screen  for  five  hundred  dollars  you  might  offer 
him  four  hundred  dollars,  and  a few  days  later 
it  might  be  sent  to  your  house  for  four  hundred 
and  fifty ; but  you  would  probably  waste  your 
time  in  offering  him  forty-five  dollars  for  a lacquer 
tray  priced  at  fifty.  The  dishonest  dealers  are 
perfectly  well  known,  and  few  people  trade  with 
them  except  rich  travellers  who  like  to  be  told 
that  the  object  before  them  is  exactly  what  they 
are  looking  for ; while  the  honest  dealers  are 
above  suspicion  of  extortion. 

It  is  equally  true  of  the  best  modern  produc- 
tions that  you  cannot  see  them  in  quantity  any- 
where. The  makers  of  them  are  true  artists  in 
spirit,  and  to  see  them  work  you  must  follow 
them  home  and  watch  them  executing  com- 
missions. Most  of  them  live  on  the  extreme 
outskirts  of  Tokyo,  almost  in  the  country,  and 
each  in  his  little  home,  with  two  or  three  pupils 
around  him,  working  away  under  delightful  cir- 
cumstances of  life,  and  under  conditions  giving 
the  freest  scope  to  his  own  genius  and  fancy. 
The  only  place  that  resembled  a factory  was 
where  cloisonnd  enamel  was  being  made,  and 
this  unpleasant  reminder  of  home  was  only  due 
to  the  fact  that  an  order  for  these  enamels  for 


AJ^TS  AND  CRAFTS  IN  JAPAN  141 

the  foreign  market,  sufficient  to  occupy  several 
years,  had  recently  been  received.  The  process 
of  making  cloisonnd  is  very  complicated.  First 
the  plain  copper  vase  or  bowl  or  tray  is  taken  be- 
tween the  knees  of  the  workman,  who  snips  off 
bits  of  brass  the  sixteenth  of  an  inch  wide,  from  a 
long  roll  before  him,  bends  them  with  tweezers 
and  glues  them  on  edge  to  the  copper,  thus 
making  the  outlines  and  detail  lines  of  the 
finished  sketch  lying  before  him.  An  apprentice 
is  putting  the  simple  pattern  in  this  way  upon 
the  flat  bottom  of  a tray,  while  the  most  skilful 
workmen  is  poring  over  the  delicate  lines  of  the 
eyes  and  feathers  of  a cock  on  a plaque.  This 
outline  is  next  oassed  to  a table  between  two 

i. 

workmen,  who  fill  up  the  interstices  with  enamel, 
still  following  the  coloured  original  before  them 
from  fifty  little  cups  of  coloured  pigments.  Then 
the  work  is  fired,  again  painted  with  enamels, 
again  fired,  and  so  on,  till  little  is  seen  but  a daub- 
like distant  copy.  This  is  then  polished  down 
with  the  greatest  care  until  the  shining  edge  of 
the  brass  strips  is  reached,  and  at  precisely  the 
same  point  the  colours  are  a perfect  copy  of  the 
painting.  Cloisonne  making  is  labour  of  the  most 
minute  kind  added  to  exquisite  skill  in  the  hand- 


142 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


ling  and  combining  of  pigments.  The  result  in 
its  highest  form  is  a painting  more  delicate 
than  water-colours,  and  more  lasting  than  brass. 
Formerly  only  geometrical  and  decorative  designs 


THE  ivory-carver’s  STUDIO.  DRAWN  BY  HIMSELF. 


were  thus  made  ; now  birds  and  fish  and  snow 
scenes  have  been  reached. 

An  ivory-carver  sat  in  his  little  room,  open  to 
his  little  garden,  chiselling  upon  a magnificent 


AJ?TS  AND  CRAFTS  IN  JAPAN  143 

tusk  from  which  the  form  of  a very  graceful 
female  figure  was  just  emerging.  The  ivory  he 
held  between  his  knees,  while  his  tools  were  all 
spread  out  by  his  side.  “How  long  will  this  take 
you  I asked.  “About  four  months,”  he  replied. 
“ And  what  is  the  proportion  between  the  value 
of  the  material  and  the  value  of  the  labour  in 
such  a work  as  this  when  completed  ?”  “I  paid 
one  hundred  and  forty  dollars  for  this  piece  of 
ivory,  and  four  months’  work  at  fifty  dollars  a 
month  is  two  hundred  dollars.  Total  cost  about 
three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars” — ^;^54.  Fancy 
one  of  the  most  skilful  and  original  artificers  in 
the  world — for  this  man’s  ivories  are  admired 
everywhere  — simply  estimating  his  own  labour 
at  fifty  silver  dollars — less  than  — a month, 
while  at  home  our  great  painters  do  not  hesitate 
to  ask  a thousand  guineas  for  a picture  covering 
a few  square  feet ! Is  there  any  doubt  which  is 
the  true  temperament  of  the  artist  “ Are  you 
not  very  sorry  sometimes  to  part  with  one  of 
these  works  that  has  been  your  companion  and 
part  of  your  life  for  so  long?”  He  looked  up 
for  a moment  at  a big  white  lily  nodding  above 
him  in  the  garden,  and  then  gently  shook  his 
head.  “ No,”  he  said  : “ Kondo  no  wa  motto  migoto 


144  the  real  japan. 

no  ts2tmori  de  gozaimasu  (‘  I expect  the  next  will 

be  more  beauti- 
ful’).” 

The  wood- 
carver,  seated 
with  a dozen  ap- 
prentices among 
his  fragrant  litter, 
knew  that  we 
were  coming,  and 
presented  us  each 
with  a large 
sugar  - figured 
cake  in  a pretty 
box.  Yet  I am 
very  poor,”  he 
said  with  a smile 
“ for  wood-car V- 
ing  is  out  of 
fashion  now.  No- 
body builds  beau- 
tiful Japanese 
houses  anymore.” 
He  had  just  been 
so  fortunate,  how- 
ever, as  to  get  a commission  for  a number  of 


AJ^TS  AND  CRAFTS  IN  JAPAN.  145 

pierced  ventilating  friezes  for  the  new  palace,  and 
one  of  these  he  showed  to  us  nearly  completed — an 
exquisitely  graceful  design  of  flowers  and  flying 
storks.  If  rich  English  and  Americans  only  knew 
for  what  trifling  sums  such  a man  as  this  Taka- 
mura  Ko-un  would  produce  for  them  carved  wood- 
work for  their  mansions,  far  more  beautiful  than 
they  could  get  elsewhere  for  ten  times — yes,  fifty 
times  the  cost,  he  would  not  be  poor  long. 
The  sketch  on  the  previous  page,  which  he  drew 
for  me,  gives  but  a faint  idea  of  the  grace  and 
richness  of  the  completed  work. 

The  most  interesting  and  elaborate  process  is 
lacquer  making,  and  its  results,  both  new  and  old, 
form  a majority  of  the  art-products  of  Japan,  as 
it  has  been  the  most  characteristic  and  popular 
Japanese  art  for  1,500  or  perhaps  2,000  years. 
It  is  so  elaborate  that  I can  give  only  the  most 
meagre  outline  of  it.  The  object,  generally  a 
tray,  a box,  or  a cabinet,  is  first  made  in  thin 
white  pine  as  only  Japanese  carpenters  can  make 
such  things  ; then  the  joints  are  all  covered  with 
muslin  and  rice  glue  and  a thin  coat  of  lacquer, 
and  the  whole  is  dried  in  the  oven.  Lacquer  is 
the  sap  of  the  lacquer-tree,  Rhus  vernicifera, 
drawn  off  by  making  incisions  in  the  bark  during 


146 


THE  REAL  /ARAM 


the  rainy  season,  and  secretly  prepared.  Then 
thin  hemp  cloth  is  stretched  tightly  over  the 
whole  surface,  upon  a basis  of  mixed  lacquer 
and  wheat-flour.  Then  coat  after  coat  of  different 
kinds  of  lacquer  is  laid  on,  polishing  after  polish- 
ing is  given,  till  after  the  last  coat  the  last  polish 
is  attained  with  powered  calcined  deer’s  horn 
applied  with  the  finger.  The  gold  mottled  sur- 
face is  produced  by  dusting  gold  flake  through 
a muslin  sieve,  and  the  designs  upon  coloured 
lacquer  are  first  traced  on  in  gold  and  then  the 
powders  are  applied  in  a multitude  of  ways,  from 
the  brushes  of  rat’s  hair  and  hare’s  hair  and  cat’s 
hair  and  human  hair,  and  hair  from  the  long 
winter  coat  of  a horse,  to  the  simple  pad  of  cotton- 
wool. Old  gold  lacquer  is  so  extremely  costly, 
the  artificer  told  us,  because  of  the  large  quantity 
of  gold  used  to  obtain  the  right  surface.  “ The 
price  of  this  box,  which  I have  just  finished,”  he 
said,  showing  us  a wonderful  specimen  of  gold 
lacquer  design  in  cherry-blossoms  and  trees,  with 
a river  and  houses  in  the  distance,  “ is  three 
hundred  dollars  and  it  has  been  eight  months 
in  hand.  If  I had  made  it  as  they  made  the 
old  lacquer  it  would  cost  six  hundred  dollars,  but 
there  would  be  no  market  for  it.” 


ARTS  AND  CRAFTS  IN  JAPAN  147 

As  regards  the  antiquity  of  the  lacquer  in- 
dustry, Japanese  chronicles  give  the  name  of  the 
person  who  was  “ Chief  of  the  Imperial  Lacquer 
Department  ” under  the  Emperor  Ko-an,  in  the 
year  b.c.  392.  In  the  seventh  century  a.d.  lac- 
quered articles  were  received  in  lieu  of  taxes,  and 
afterwards,  so  great  was  the  value  set  upon  lacquer 
for  the  Emperor’s  own  use,  that  the  making  of  it 
except  in  the  Imperial  Lacquer  Department  was 
prohibited.  In  the  eighth  century,  as  enough 
lacquer  could  no  longer  be  procured  from  the  wild 
trees,  every  farmer  was  compelled,  first,  to  plant 
from  forty  to  eighty  lacquer  trees,  and  second,  to 
pay  his  taxes  in  lacquer.  Now,  lacquer  trees 
grow  everywhere,  as  they  are  very  hardy.  The 
oldest  piece  of  lacquer-work  extant  is  a box  which 
held  the  scarf  of  a Buddhist  priest  who  lived  in 
A.D.  540.  It  seems  highly  probable  that  if  work- 
ing in  lacquer — I mean  work  of  the  straightfor- 
ward and  cheap  kind — was  understood  and  could 
be  practised  in  other  countries,  it  would  be  found 
applicable  to  an  infinite  number  of  useful  pur- 
poses. For  example, -experiments  have  recently 
been  made  to  determine  whether  a coating  of 
lacquer  will  not  prove  a perfect  covering  for  a 
ship’s  bottom. 


148 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


The  actual  manual  skill  of  the  Japanese  artifice, 
seems  remarkable  to  us,  but  it  does  not  strike  his 
fellow-countrymen  as  being  much  out  of  the 
common.  And,  indeed,  the  traveller  in  Japan 
soon  learns  to  transfer  his  wonder  from  the  indi- 
vidual to  the  nation.  This  extraordinary  people 
who  pull  the  saw  or  the  plane  towards  them 
instead  of  pushing  it  away,  who  make  the  threads 
of  their  screws  run  the  other  way  from  ours,  who 
sit  down  in  the  presence  of  a superior  as  a mark 
of  respect,  who  blow  their  noses  upon  paper  and 
wrap  their  parcels  in  pocket-handkerchiefs,  are 
born  with  a manual  dexterity  that  is  simply  as- 
tonishing. This  is  true  of  everybody,  men  and 
women,  low  and  high  alike.  Your  jinrikisha 
coolie  will  tie  knots,  repair  his  vehicle,  or  lend 
a hand  in  anything  you  are  doing,  with  the  knack 
of  a man-of-war’s  man  and  the  delicacy  of  a 
dentist ; the  cook  at  the  house  where  I am  stay- 
ing will  knock  off  charming  little  sketches  for  the 
children  by  the  hour ; and  any  little  job  that  re- 
quires intelligence  and  manual  skill  almost  any 
Japanese  will  do  for  you.  To  give  only  one 
example,  if  you  happen  to  be  suffering  from  that 
troublesome  and  painful  infliction,  a boil,  your 
Japanese  servant  will  take  a hair,  pass  it  by  some 


AJ^TS  AND  CRAFTS  IN  JAPAN  149 

magic  known  only  to  himself,  round  the  inside  of 
the  sore  and  with  only  a twinge  to  yourself  re- 
move the  whole  of  the  diseased  flesh.  What  the 
ordinary  Japanese  most  enjoys  in  his  works  of  art 
is  the  quaint  or  comic  telling  of  a story  or  depict- 
ing of  a humorous  incident.  The  carving  of  the 
man  carefully  lifting  the  box  which  he  has  put 
down  over  a rat,  and  waiting  with  uplifted  club  to 
smash  it  as  it  comes  out,  while  the  rat,  having 
eaten  away  a corner,  has  escaped  up  his  sleeve 
and  is  sitting  on  his  back  watching  the  process 
over  his  shoulder — that  is  the  spirit  which  appeals 
to  their  fancy.  I have  taken  a great  many 
photographs  in  Japan  of  all  sorts  of  people, 
instantaneous  street-views,  studies  of  dancers 
and  portraits  of  geisha,  and  although  some  of 
them  seemed  to  me  rather  interesting,  my  Japa- 
nese friends  did  not  care  for  them  at  all.  But 
one  day  I took  a picture  of  a very  pretty  girl  with 
her  arm  round  a large  carved  wooden  Darmna — 
an  effigy  of  the  saint  who  squatted  in  such  a 
prolonged  inward'  contemplation  of  the  nature  of 
things  that  his  legs  rotted  ofb — and  looking  tease- 
ingly  into  his  face  with  an  appealing  look,  while 
his  fixed  gaze  over  her  head  seems  to  be  an 
appeal  for  help  against  the  temptress.  And 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


150 

over  this  picture  at  last  my  friends  were  enthu- 
siastic. “ That  is  excellent,”  they  said,  “ it 
is  delightful — it  is  Japa^iese  ! ” Actually  the 
fame  of  this  photograph  reached  the  reporters, 
and  a paragraph  appeared  in  the  newspapers 
congratulating  me  upon  it,  and  giving  the  name 
of  the  owner  of  the  Da^'uma — a very  sedate 
person — who  was  by  no  means  grateful  for  noto- 
riety of  that  particular  kind.  The  picture  forms 
the  frontispiece  of  this  volume. 

As  soon  as  the  Treaty  Revision  question  is 
settled,  and  it  is  easy  for  Japanese  and  foreigners 
to  work  in  partnership,  there  will  be  an  extremely 
interesting  and  profitable  opportunity  for  the 
proper  organization  of  these  artificers  and  the 
development  and  direction  of  this  national  dex- 
terity. At  present  they  produce  very  little  in 
amount,  that  little  is  snapped  up  eagerly  by  those 
on  the  spot,  the  producers  remain  poor,  and  their 
ideas  are  the  same  from  generation  to  generation. 
But  in  such  fields  as  wood-carving  for  house 
decoration,  the  making  of  fine  furniture  with 
decorative  carving,  the  casting  and  chiselling  of 
copper  and  silver  and  gold  articles  for  the  table, 
the  weaving  of  splendid  brocades  for  hangings 
and  curtains,  the  making  of  exquisite  porcelain 


AJ^TS  AND  CRAFTS  IN  JAPAN  151 

articles  for  table  service — in>  all  these  and  many 
other  directions  there  will  be  limitless  opportuni- 
ties for  Japan  to  supply  the  Western  world  with 
beautiful  and  useful  objects,  to  her  own  profit  and 
their  education  and  delight.  To  get  anything  of 
this  sort  made  now  it  is  necessary  first  of  all  to 
find  out  a man  who  can  make  it — no  easy  task, 
for  the  individual  artificers  are  known  only  to  a 
very  small  circle ; then  you  have  to  teach  him 
exactly  what  it  is  you  want  ; and  finally  you  have 
to  wait  months  and  months  before  you  can  get  it. 

I saw  a silver  teapot  the  other  day,  beautifully 
chiselled  and  beaten  out  of  very  heavy  silver  after 
an  old  Chinese  design — a masterpiece  of  the 
silversmith’s  art.  But  when  I expressed  a wish 
to  give  an  order  for  a somewhat  similar  article,  I 
was  told  that  it  would  be  between  eighteen  months 
and  two  years  before  it  would  be  finished!  If 
the  chief  artificers  of  these  arts  could  be  brought 
into  one  organization,  directed  by  a competent 
foreigner,  taught  Western  needs  and  preferences, 
and  yet  left  absolutely  free  to  follow  out  their  own 
artistic  inspirations,  both  Japan  and  the  world 
would  be  the  gainers.  The  Eastern  market  for 
furniture  alone  is  so  extensive  and  profitable  that 
a large  and  prosperous  firm  has  grown  up  in 


152 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


Shanghai,  employing  Chinese  workmen.  Yet 
this  is  one  of  the  things  that  the  Japanese  would 
do  infinitely  better.  The  great  danger,  of  course, 
in  such  a scheme,  will  be  that  the  genius  of  the 
Japanese  artificer  may  not  be  able  to  resist  the 
degrading  influences  of  even  a distant  approach 
to  the  factory  system.  It  will  be  an  interesting 
problem  to  watch. 


VII. 

AJiTS  AND  GRAFTS  IN  yAPAN. 


I 


TO 


VII. 


ARTS  AND  CRAFTS  IN  JAPAN. 

II.  PAST  AND  PRESENT. 

IT  is  easy  enough  to  write 
of  the  curio-shops  of  Japan 
and  of  the  odd  manners  and 
customs  of  the  dealers  in 
artistic  antiquities,  but  it 

is  a very  different  matter 
when  you  come  to  the 

curios  themselves.  This  is 

a subject  upon  which  only 
an  expert,  who  has  found  wisdom  by  years 
of  experience,  and  the  wasting  of  a small  for- 
tune in  learning  not  to  make  mistakes,  has  the 
right  to  an  opinion.  Now,  Captain  Brinkley, 

R.A.,  of  whom  I have  written  in  my  letter  on 

Japanese  journalism,  is  the  first  living  authority 
upon  Japanese  and  the  Chinese  porcelain,  and  he 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


^56 

has  been  one  of  the  closest  students  for  many 
years  of  other  branches  of  Japanese  art,  though 
he  is  careful  not  to  claim  expertship  in  them. 
For  twenty  years  he  has  collected  here  and  in 
China,  and  his  overflow  collections,  one  of  which, 
called  “ The  Brinkley  Collection,”  was  dispersed 
in  New  York  a few  years  ago,  are  famous  among 
connoisseurs  everywhere.  Collectors  come  to 
him  with  letters  from  all  parts  of  the  civilized 
world,  and  only  a few  days  ago  one  of  them,  an 
American  millionaire,  was  begging  to  buy  a few 
of  his  pieces — “so  that  I can  say  I have  some 
bits  from  your  collection,  you  know.”  The  work 
of  his  life,  a “ History  of  Chinese  and  Japanese 
Keramics,”  with  a multitude  of  the  most  beautiful 
water-colour  book-illustrations  I have  ever  seen, 
is  nearly  ready  for  the  publishers.  The  following 
very  interesting  ^‘true  truths”  about  Japanese 
curios,  old  and  new — their  makers,  honest  and 
dishonest — and  their  buyers,  wise  and  foolish,  I 
owe  to  Captain  Brinkley.  Collectors  will  do  well 
to  lay  them  to  heart. 

“The  hopeless  decadence  of  Japanese  Art,”  is 
a favourite  phrase  among  connoisseurs  in  Europe. 
That  opinion  is  due  partly  to  the  natural  tendency 
pf  collectors,  who  are  always  laudatores  te77iporis 


A ATS  AND  CRAFTS  IN  JAPAN  157 

acti — and  partly — perhaps  chiefly — to  the  mis- 
representation of  dealers,  who  seek  to  enhance 
the  value  of  old  pieces.  Some  lapse  from  the 
best  standards  was  inevitable,  but  it  is  not  such  a 
lapse  as  M.  Louis  Gonse  would  lead  us  to  sup- 
pose when  he  speaks  of  “ the  wretched  modern 
products  of  Japanese  art,  so  feeble  in  every  way.” 
With  the  fall  of  feudalism  in  1868,  Japanese  art 
manufactures  lost  the  most  liberal  and  eager 
patrons  ever  developed  by  any  social  conditions 
anywhere.  Each  feudal  king  was  a chief  who 
based  the  reputation  of  his  fief  on  martial  prowess, 
up  to  the  time  of  the  Taiko,  and  on  industrial 
superiority  after  that  time.  Specimens  of  the  art 
products  of  the  principal  hefs  used  to  be  sent 
periodically  to  the  Shogun’s  Court  in  Yedo 
(Tokyo)  and  to  the  Imperial  Court  in  Kyoto. 
Between  the  Daimyo  themselves,  also,  there  was  a 
constant  interchange  of  objects  of  art.  Thus,  when- 
ever one  of  the  artist  artisans,  who  constituted  a 
class  peculiar  to  J apan,  developed  any  special  ability, 
he  could  count  on  the  munificent  patronage  of  his 
feudal  lord.  His  future  was  thenceforth  assured. 
He  became  a pensioner,  working  leisurely  and 
giving  full  play  to  his  genius,  certain  that  excel- 
lent results  would  always  guarantee  him  against 


158 


THE  REAL  /ARAN. 


any  inconvenient  scrutiny  as  to  the  expenditure  of 
time  or  money.  When  feudalism  was  abolished, 
these  halcyon  days  disappeared.  Men  depending 
on  art  industries  for  a livelihood  were  compelled 
to  turn  temporarily  to  foreign  markets,  and  as  a 
natural  consequence  they  adapted  themselves  to 
the  supposed  requirements  of  those  markets.  To 
appreciate  what  this  meant,  one  need  only  recall 
the  attitude  of  the  popular  mind  thirty  years  ago 
in  England,  for  example,  towards  all  questions 
of  aesthetics.  The  Japanese  soon  fell  into  the 
notion  that  profusion  of  ornament,  elaboration  of 
detail  and  decorative  brilliancy,  were  the  first 
essentials  of  a successful  appeal  to  Western 
approval.  Hence  the  production  of  a host  of 
objects  meretricious,  gaudy  and  vulgar,  repre- 
senting not  Japanese  taste,  but  a Japanese 
conception  of  foreign  taste.  This  was  the 
Brummagem  period  of  Japan’s  art.  Happily  she 
soon  emerged  from  it.  For  some  years  past  her 
great  aim  has  been  to  return  to  her  own  canons, 
and  she  now  manufactures  objects  worthy  of 
comparison  with  the  choicest  masterpieces  of 
former  times. 

This  is,  perhaps,  not  true  of  all  branches  of  art, 
but  it  is  certainly  true  of  art  manufactures.  In 


ARTS  AND  CRAFTS  IN  JAPAN  159 

pictorial  art  it  might  be  rash  to  say  that  Japan 
possesses  just  now  any  masters  worthy  to  rank 
with  the  celebrities  of  past  ages.  She  has  no 
Sesshiu,  no  Motonobu,  no  Sosen,  and  no  Okyo. 
She  has,  perhaps,  a Hokusai,  and  a Tsunenobu, 
but  one  hesitates  to  pronounce  a confident  dictum 
on  this  point.  In  respect  of  general  excellence, 
however,  her  painters  are  not  below  the  average 
level  of  the  past,  though  they  certainly  do  not 
reach  its  highest  eminences.  Undoubtedly 
Kyosai  can  paint  a crow  as  well  as  Chokuan 
ever  depicted  a hawk,  and  some  of  Kangyos 
landscapes  deserve  to  be  hung  side  by  side  with 
those  of  Tanyu.  If,  however,  a collector  were  to 
assume  that  tlie  porcelains,  lacquers,  bronzes,  and 
ivories,  now  offered  for  sale  in  Japanese  shops, 
are  virtually  equal  to  the  corresponding  works  of 
past  years,  his  assumption  would  be  too  large. 
Let  us  examine  the  matter  a little  in  detail.  In 
the  Keramic  industry  for  example,  there  is  cer- 
tainly a loss,  or  at  least  a practical  absence,  of 
technical  ability.  This  is  evident  in  two  re- 
spects : first,  in  the  purity  and  fineness  of  porce- 
lain pate,  and  secondly  in  the  brilliancy  and 
quality  of  vitrifiable  enamels  used  for  surface 
decoration.  Why  there  should  be  difficulty, 


i6o 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


apparently  insurmountable,  in  obtaining  a pate 
equal  to  that  of  former  times,  no  one  pretends  to 
explain  exactly.  Chemically  considered  there  are 
six  distinct  varieties  of  porcelain  in  Japan,  but  for 
the  present  purpose  it  is  enough  to  speak  of  the 
two  great  centres  of  production,  Arita  and  Owari. 
The  porcelain  of  the  former  contains,  in  a hun- 
dred parts,  seventy-seven  of  silica  and  eighteen 
of  alumina ; the  porcelain  of  the  latter,  seventy  of 
silica  and  twenty-one  of  alumina.  The  Arita 
(Hizen)  porcelain  differs  from  all  other  porcelains 
in  being  manufactured  directly  from  the  stone 
of  Izumiyama.  Elsewhere  porcelain  pates  are 
obtained  by  mixing  a fusible  and  an  infusible 
element — Petuntse  and  Kaolin — the  “ bone  ” and 
“flesh”  of  the  ware.  But  in  Hizen  nature  has 
provided  material  ready  to  be  employed  without 
any  admixture.  This  dispensation,  a source  of 
much  pride  to  the  potters  of  the  district  in  olden 
times,  has  its  disadvantages  as  well  as  its  advan- 
tages. The  manipulation  of  the  stone  demands 
immense  care  and  skill.  Success  depends,  in  a 
great  degree,  upon  an  unsparing  expenditure  of 
labour  and  expertness.  In  Owari,  on  the  contrary, 
the  usual  process  is  followed  ; the  porcelain  stone 
is  mixed  with  a Kaolin  clay.  Both  stone  and  clay 


AJ^TS  AND  CD  ADDS  IN  JAPAN  i6i 

are  procurable  in  almost  unlimited  quantities,  but 
their  composition  is  so  variable  that  the  action  of 
the  mass  in  the  presence  of  a high  temperature  is 
a matter  of  the  greatest  uncertainty.  The  Owari 
potter,  not  yet  sufficiently  scientific  to  analyse  his 
materials,  trusts  much  to  chance,  and  consequently 
devotes  a minimum  of  labour  to  preliminary  pro- 
cesses, which,  for  aught  he  knows,  may  be  ulti- 
mately thrown  away.  Owari  now  produces  nearly 
all  the  blue-and-white  porcelain  of  Japan,  besides 
quantities  of  ware  subsequently  decorated  with 
pigments  and  enamels  in  the  ateliers  of  Yoko- 
hama and  Tokyo.  Arita  produces  the  bulk  of 
the  enamelled  porcelain.  At  neither  place  can 
the  workmen  afford  to  prepare  their  pates  with 
the  loving  care  bestowed  in  former  times.  Pro- 
bably the  fi7iesse  of  the  process  has  escaped  them 
through  want  of  practice.  At  all  events,  the 
results  obtained  are  decidedly  inferior.  So,  too, 
of  decorative  enamels,  though  in  a much  less 
marked  degree.  The  preparation  of  these  is 
often  imperfect,  and  there  is  always  a disposition 
to  replace  them  with  pigments.  This  latter  ten- 
dency belongs  to  a more  serious  class  of  faults. 
Crude,  gritty  pate  is  bad  technique,  but  the  use  of 
pigments  for  surface  decoration  is  bad  art.  It 


i62 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


must  be  remembered  that  the  item  of  decorative 
designs  enters  into  the  account,  and  here  the 
advantage  is  on  the  side  of  modern  Keramists. 
They  choose  their  subjects  from  a wider  field, 
and  execute  them  with  no  less  fidelity  than  their 
predecessors.  Besides,  porcelain  proper  has 
always  been  a secondary  product  of  the  Keramic 
industry  in  this  country.  In  faience  the  Japanese 
have  achieved  and  still  achieve  their  greatest 
triumphs.  Probably  the  most  aesthetic  outcome 
of  the  potter’s  art  in  any  country  was  the  cele- 
brated Satsuma  faience.  In  the  manufacture  of 
this  beautiful  ware  the  workmen  of  former  times 
far  excelled  those  of  the  present  generation.  But 
if  you  go  to  Kyoto,  you  will  find  Tanzan,  Dohachi, 
Seifu,  and  Kanzan  turning  out  faience  which,  in 
respect  of  technique  and  artistic  qualities  alike,  is 
certainly  not  inferior  to  the  old-time  chefs-dcsuvj^e 
of  Awata„  Iwakura,  and  Kiyomizu.  The  Satsuma 
faience  of  former  times  excelled  so  signally  in 
beauty  of  pate.  Its  exquisitely  mellow,  ivory-like 

surface,  with  crackle  almost  imperceptibly  fine  but 
perfectly  regular,  and  lustre  rich  yet  sufficiently 
subdued  to  suggest  a restful  air  of  solidity,  offered 
an  ideal  ground  for  the  delightful  harmonies  in 
gold,  silver,  red,  green,  and  blue,  so  cleverly 


AJ^TS  AND  CRAFTS  IN  JAPAN. 


163 


chosen  by  the  Satsuma  potter.  It  is  not  impos- 
sible now  to  reproduce  the  same  delicacy,  wealth, 
and  chasteness  of  decoration,  but  the  incom- 
parable pate  is  seen  no  more.  It  is  probably 
understood  by  very  few  Western  collectors.  Yet, 
strangely  enough,  “old  Satsuma”  has  always  been 
a sort  of  craze  in  Europe.  I say  “ strangely,” 
because  the  great  majority  of  its  devotees  cannot 
have  any  practical  acquaintance  with  the  ware. 
They  must  have  simply  followed  the  fashion. 
Genuine  examples  of  old  Satsuma  have  always 
been  rare  as  choice  diamonds.  During  the  past 
ten  years,  the  average  number  of  pieces  coming 
into  the  market  has  not  exceeded  ten  or  twelve. 
Thousands,  however,  have  been  sent  to  Europe. 
Stained  with  chemicals  and  otherwise  disfigured 
to  simulate  age,  they  have  educated  a very  false 
idea  of  Satsumayaki  among  average  connoisseurs. 
Inexperienced  collectors  would  do  well  to  re- 
member that  there  are  no  large,  highly  decorated 
specimens  of  genuine  old  Satsuma  in  existence. 
Big  vases,  censers,  and  jars,  bedizened  with  armies 
of  saints,  peacocks,  and  historical  scenes,  are  at- 
tractive ornaments  in  their  way,  but  they  have 
nothing  in  common  with  old  Satsuma. 

The  Japanese  are  past  masters  of  the  art  of 


164 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


manufacturing  ancient  specimens.  All  the  fami- 
liar devices  of  burying  in  the  ground,  exposing  on 
the  roof,  steeping  in  tea  or  decoctions  of  yasha, 
begriming  with  fumes  of  incense  and  so  forth,  are 
now  thrown  into  the  shade  by  a Yokohama  artist, 
and  a great  potter  at  that,  who  actually  simulates 
marks  of  age  in  manufacturing  a piece,  and  fixes 
them  in  the  furnace.  Such  tricks  will  flourish  so 
long  as  the  folly  of  collectors  induces  them  to 
value  age  for  its  own  sake.  It  is  difficult  to 
understand  the  motive  of  such  infatuation.  Of 
course  in  the  products  of  every  country  there  are 
specimens  which,  though  not  pleasing  from  either 
an  artistic  or  a decorative  point  of  view,  possess 
interest  as  links  in  the  historical  chain  of  indus- 
trial development.  But  this  is  a question  quite 
outside  the  ordinary  collector’s  domain.  The 
points  of  attraction  for  him  are  practically  limited 
to  beauties  of  skilled  technique  or  artistic  con- 
ception. He  ought,  therefore,  to  recognise  that 
marks  of  age  are  emphatically  a blemish,  and 
that,  so  far  from  augmenting,  they  seriously 
diminish,  the  value  of  a Keramic  specimen. 
Japanese  vu'hwsi  have  always  understood  this. 
They  preserve  choice  vases  and  censers  wrapped 
in  silk  or  brocades  and  enclosed  in  nests  of  boxes. 


A Geisha  Dancing. — IV. 


{An  Instantaneous  Photograpi.) 


V*' 


, *•  I 


'A 


'V 


:■*. 

1 

.,  Ml 

• J* 


• 

i 

% 


AJ?TS  AND  CRAFTS  IN  JAPAN  167 

Every  scratch,  every  stain,  they  regard  as  a 
defect,  and  by  periodical  washings  they  keep  their 
treasures  pure  and  bright.  As  a rule  there  is  a 
period  of  greatest  excellence  for  each  class  of 
ware.  Sometimes  it  is  a remote  period  ; some- 
times a more  modern.  Thus,  while  an  example 
of  “ Famille  Verte  ” of  the  Kanghsi  {1661-1^22) 
era  is  finer,  in  many  respects,  than  a similar  price 
of  the  Lungchmg  or  Wa?i-li  time  (1567-1620), 
the  converse  is  true  of  yellow  monochromes  ; and 
while  Owari  blue-and-white  dating  from  the 
middle  of  this  century  far  excels  its  predecessors 
of  the  same  factory,  one  must  go  much  further 
back  to  find  choice  examples  of  the  same  style  in 
Imari  porcelain.  Apart  from  the  place  occupied 
by  a particular  epoch  in  respect  of  artistic  or 
technical  excellence,  there  is  not  the  smallest 
reason  to  look  for  age  in  a Keramic  specimen, 
and  if  collectors  would  make  up  their  minds  to 
regard  marks  of  antiquity  as  tokens  to  awaken 
distrust  rather  than  to  excite  admiration,  they 
would  at  once  close  the  path  to  a multitude  of 
deceptions. 

Other  art  manufactures,  speaking  generally, 
are  in  a condition  of  high  development.  China, 
in  her  palmiest  days,  never  produced  cloisonne 


i68 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


enamels  comparable  with  those  now  made  in 
Japan.  No  country  indeed,  ever  manufactured 
anything  showing  such  a combination  of  won- 
derful manual  dexterity  and  decorative  instinct. 
Moreover,  this  industry  is  virtually  a new  de- 
parture. Mr.  Audsley,  in  his  stupendous  work 
on  “ The  Ornamental  Arts  of  Japan,”  has  been 
betrayed  into  singular  errors  as  to  the  history 
of  Japanese  cloisonne.  In  feudal  times  the  pro- 
ductions of  Japanese  workers  in  enamel  were 
insignificant  and  unattractive.  The  art  had  no 
recognised  status  and  its  outcome  was  deservedly 
neglected.  But  a few  years  after  the  opening 
of  Japan  to  foreign  trade,  the  prices  commanded 
by  old  Chinese  enamels  in  Western  markets  led 
enterprising  Japanese  artists  to  turn  their  atten- 
tion in  this  direction.  They  were  encouraged 
by  foreign  speculators,  and  the  result  was  that 
between  1865  and  1872,  quite  a large  number 
of  imposing  vases,  plaques,  censers,  and  so  forth, 
found  their  way  to  Europe.  They  were  sombre 
pieces,  defective  in  colour,  but  showing  elaborate 
workmanship,  and  their  manufacturers  did  not 
hesitate  to  employ  whatever  decorative  designs 
were  likely  to  increase  the  vicarious  dignity  of 
a piece.  The  sixteen-petalled  Chrysanthemum 


AJ^TS  AND  CRAFTS  IN  JAPAN  169 

and  the  five-foil  Pawlovvnia  figured  profusely  on 
vessels  innocent  of  the  remotest  relation  to  the 
Imperial  family.  Of  these  specimens  a number 
came  into  the  hands  of  some  English  collectors, 
and  Mr.  Audsley  devotes  pages  to  their  descrip- 
tion and  classification.  His  thesis  reads  like  a 
huge  jest.  One  of  his  preliminary  embarrassments 
was  that  such  pieces  had  never  been  seen  before. 
Their  types  were  not  to  be  met  with  in  any  of  the 
known  museums,  at  Leyden,  at  the  Hague,  in 
Munich,  in  Dresden,  in  London,  or  in  private 
collections  of  note.  Mr.  Audsley  was  driven  to 
conclude  that  the  European  “ knowledge  of  an 
ancient  and  apparently  extinct  school  of  Japanese 
enamelling  dated  from  1865,”  and  that  “in 
England  alone  were  the  dignity  and  importance 
of  the  industry  properly  recognised.”  Of  all 
conceivable  hypotheses,  the  only  one  he  did  not 
happen  upon  was  that  the  “ school  ” itself  dated 
from  1865.  “All  the  Japanese  who  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  inspecting  the  enamels  in  England 
pleaded  entire  ignorance  regarding  them ; said 
that  they  had  never  met  with  them  in  Japan,  and 
appeared  somewhat  surprised  to  know  that  they 
had  come  thence.”  But  Mr.  Audsley  was  not 
disturbed.  Fixed  in  the  belief  that  the  enamels 


170 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


were  ancient,  it  only  remained  to  account  for 
their  sudden  emergence  into  the  light  of  appre- 
ciation and  connoisseurship.  By  a process  of 
negative  reasoning  he  arrived  at  the  conclusion 
that  not  being  this  and  not  being  that,  they  must 
be  the  other.  So  at  last  they  became  temple 
furniture  centuries  old,  and  the  result  is  that  in 
the  beautifully  executed  plates  of  his  book  a series 
of  almost  entirely  modern  manufactures  is  care- 
fully divided  into  three  periods,  dating  from  the 
fifteenth  to  the  nineteenth  century.  One  cannot 
too  much  regret  that  works  so  imposing  and 
attractive  as  “The  Ornamental  Arts  of  Japan” 
should  form  the  gospel  of  English  collectors.  So 
long  as  authors  with  Mr.  Audsley’s  opportunities 
circulate  such  singular  misconceptions — attributing 
to  ancient  factories  and  Buddhistic  patronage 
enamels  that  were  produced  in  recent  years  solely 
for  the  foreign  market,  under  the  direction  of  a 
speculative  Hebrew,  and  ascribe  to  a Kakie- 
mon  of  the  seventeenth  century  and  to  Kenzan 
of  the  eighteenth,  porcelain  and  faience  statuettes 
of  entirely  recent  manufacture — so  long  will  false 
notions  of  Japanese  art  prevail  in  the  West,  and 
so  long  will  the  trade  of  the  adept  forger  flourish. 

In  one  direction,  modern  Japanese  enamels 


AJ^TS  AND  CRAFTS  IN  JAPAN  ryr 

have  reached  their  acme  of  development.  It 
is  impossible  to  conceive  higher  efforts  of  tech- 
nical skill  and  elaborate  accuracy  than  the  enamels 
of  Kyoto.  But  in  Tokyo  a new  departure  was 
made  a few  years  ago.  The  artists  conceived  the 
idea  of  producing  pictures  in  enamel.  In  these 
enamels  the  cloisons  are  hidden,  as  far  as  possi- 
ble. You  have  a wide  field  of  delicate  colour — 
generally  relieved  by  gradations  of  tint — forming 
the  ground  for  landscapes,  floral  decoration,  snow 
scenes,  and  so  forth,  effects  of  aerial  perspective 
and  chiaroscuro  being  obtained  with  marvellous 
skill.  Whether  the  canons  of  true  art  are  strictly 
observed  in  such  work  may  be  a question.  The 
results  achieved  are  certainly  most  beautiful,  but 
the  best  designers  are  not  employed,  and  a higher 
stage  is  evidently  attainable.  Belonging  to  the 
same  category  as  these  wonderful  enamels  are 
some  of  the  modern  embroideries  of  Kyoto.  In 
that  city  you  find  experts  who  paint  with  their 
needles.  Their  best  works  are  scarcely  distin- 
guishable from  pictures  on  canvas  or  silk.  There 
seems  to  be  no  limit  to  the  capacity  of  the 
Japanese  art  artisan.  If  his  genius  can  survive 
organization  a wide  vista  of  industrial  triumphs 
lies  before  him.  In  other  branches  also,  glyptic 


172 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


art  and  metal  work  for  example,  he  gives  similar 
promise  of  success.  His  modern  bronzes  and  his 
iron  inlaid  with  gold  and  silver  are  remarkable 
accomplishments.  As  in  pictorial  art,  so  also  in 
metal  work,  certain  epochs  were  happy  in  the 
possession  of  great  masters.  From  the  time 
when  his  sword  and  his  armour  ceased  to  be  the 
first  objects  of  a Japanese  gentleman’s  concern, 
the  field  for  workers  in  metal  was  immensely 
narrowed.  We  shall  never,  perhaps,  see  again 
those  extraordinary  miniatures  in  metal  that  are 
found  on  the  sword-furniture  of  former  times. 
But  the  ability  that  conceived  and  executed  these 
marvels  is  not  lost:  it  has  only  been  diverted. 
You  see  unmistakable  evidences  of  its  existence 
and  full  exercise  in  the  metal  work  of  to-day.  So, 
too,  of  carving  in  wood  and  ivory.  There  are  glyp- 
tic artists  of  the  utmost  excellence.  None  of  the 
masterpieces  of  their  predecessors  put  them  to  blush. 
It  is  true  that  large  quantities  of  wood  and  ivory 
carvings  are  exported  which  present  no  commend- 
able features  of  any  kind.  The  majority  of  Western 
collectors  buy  these  much  as  they  would  buy 
chairs  or  tables.  No  matter  whether  there  is 
any  display  of  the  artist’s  feeling  or  the  modeller’s 
skill — it  is  enough  that  the  objects  represent  a 


AJ?TS  AND  CRAFTS  IN  JAPAN  173 

great  deal  of  labour,  a certain  amount  of  bizarre 
vigour,  and  a phase  of  Japanese  fancy.  You  can 
go  to  shops  in  Yokohama  and  see  ivory  carvings 
of  this  class  ranged  upon  shelves  by  scores  and 
hundreds.  The  mechanical  repetition  of  such 
toys  is  a steadily  degrading  influence.  Happily, 
however,  there  are  artists  who  refuse  to  prostitute 
their  talents  to  the  wholesale  demand  of  uphol- 
sterers and  exporters.  Among  their  works  the 
patron  and  lover  of  true  art  will  find  no  lack  of 
exquisite  objects.  The  tourist  visiting  Japan 
with  a full  purse  would  be  wiser  than  his  class 
to  collect  only  the  honest  and  beautiful  products 
of  her  modern  art,  instead  of  encouraging  forgeries 
and  deceiving  himself  by  running  after  specimens 
which,  in  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  cases  out 
of  every  thousand,  are  inferior  examples  of  new 
work,  disfigured  by  simulated  marks  of  use  and 


wear. 


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IHPSte:' ’.fjSH  ■ .:-vw,*---' ' .•  .'  ' 


VIII. 

JAPANESE  WOMEN. 


VIII. 


JAPANESE  WOMEN. 

^HE  Japanese 
woman  is  the  crown  of 
the  charm  of  Japan.  In 
the  noble  lady  and  her 
frailest  and  most  un- 
fortunate sister  alike 
there  is  an  indefinable 
something  which  is  fas- 
cinating at  first  sight 
and  grows  only  more 
pleasing  on  acquain- 
tance, so  that  the  very 
last  thing  to  fade  from  the  memory  of  anybody 
who  has  been  fortunate  enough  to  linger  in  Japan, 
must  be  these 

“ — bright  vestures,  faces  fair, 

Long  eyes  and  closely  braided  hair.” 


Good  looks  are  not  enough  to  account  for  this  ; 


178 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


prettiness  is  the  rule  among  Japanese  women, 
but  I think  the  charm  lies  chiefly — though  to 
attempt  a rough-and-ready  analysis  is  like  dis- 
secting a humming-bird  with  a hatchet — in  an 
inborn  gentleness  and  tenderness  and  sympathy, 
the  most  womanly  of  all  qualities,  combined  with 
what  the  Romans  used  to  call  “ a certain  pro- 
priety ” of  thought  and  demeanour,  and  used  to 
admire  so  much.  If  you  could  take  the  light  from 
the  eyes  of  a Sister  of  Mercy  at  her  gracious 
task,  the  smile  of  a maiden  looking  over  the  seas 
for  her  lover,  and  the  heart  of  an  unspoiled  child, 
and  materialize  them  into  a winsome  and  healthy 
little  body,  crowned  with  a mass  of  jet-black  hair 
and  dressed  in  bright  rustling  silks,  you  would 
have  the  typical  Japanese  woman.  To  write  of 
her  life  and  thoughts  and  habits  and  future  de- 
velopments, one  must  show  much  temerity,  or  else 
be  with  “ divine  affection  bold,”  but  there  is  so 
much  to  say,  and  she  will  play  so  important  a 
part  in  the  final  civilizing  of  Japan,  that  I must 
try. 

The  key  to  the  character  of  the  Japanese  woman 
lies  in  the  word  obedience.  Ages  ago  her  “ three 
great  duties  ” were  religiously  declared  to  be  obe- 
dience ; if  a daughter,  to  her  father,  if  a wife,  to 


JAPANESE  WOMEN. 


179 


her  husband,  if  a widow,  to  her  eldest  son.  “ The 
kid  drinks  its  milk  kneeling,”  says  the  Japanese 
proverb — even  the  brutes  show  respect  to  their 
parents.  So  at  the  will  of  her  parents  the  Japa- 
nese girl  accepts  her  husband  or  joins  the  slaves 
of  Aphrodite,  and  Confucius  is  presumably  happy 
at  the  devotion  to  his  behests.  Her  education 
consists  of  reading  and  writing,  the  polite  accom- 
plishments of  dancing  and  playing  on  the  sa77iisen 
and  koto,  the  reading  of  the  polite  literature  of 
poetry,  the  tea-ceremonial,  cha-no-yu,  and  the 
flower-ceremonial — all  very  civilizing  studies,  but 
involving  no  development  of  character.  Dancing 
plays  a very  important  part  in  the  education  of 
both  boys  and  girls.  In  good  families  the  dan- 
cing teacher  comes  every  other  day,  regular 
practice  is  an  affair  of  routine,  and  private  enter- 
tainments where  the  children  perform  are  arranged 
by  friendly  families.  This  education  is  that  of 
the  upper  classes ; for  the  middle  and  lower 
classes  obvious  deductions  must  be  made  from 
it.  At  last  — or  rather  very  soon  — comes  the 
wedding  day,  and  the  girl  dofls  her  bright  scarlet 
under-garment.  How  far  this  festival  is  supposed 
by  the  Japanese  themselves  to  coincide  with  the 
slaking  of  the  “ burning  desert-thirst  ” of  personal 


i8o  THE  REAL  JAPAN. 

passion,  which  the  western  nations  more  or  less 
hypocritically  attribute  to  that  day  of  days,  is 
revealed  by  their  proverb — the  universal  one  in 
a prettier  form  — “ Love  leaves  with  the  red 
petticoat.” 

The  days  when  a Japanese  wdfe  stained  her 
teeth  black  on  her  wedding  day  and  shaved  her 
eyebrows  when  the  first  baby  was  born,  are 
past,  except  perhaps  among  the  lower  classes  in 
remote  country  districts,  but  the  Frenchwoman’s 
remark,  making  due  allowance  for  its  exaggera- 
tion, may  be  repeated  by  the  w’omen  of  Japan — 
fille,  on  nous  supprime ; femme,  on  nous  opprime.’' 
The  expression  res  august  a domi  might  have  been 
invented  for  Japan,  so  narrow  of  necessity  is  the 
wife’s  home  life.  The  husband  mixes  with  the 
world,  the  wife  does  not ; the  husband  has  been 
somewhat  inspired  and  his  thoughts  widened  by 
his  intercourse  with  foreigners,  the  wife  has  not 
met  them  ; the  husband  has  more  or  less  acquain- 
tance with  Western  learning,  the  wife  has  none. 
Affection  between  the  two,  within  the  limits  which 
unequal  intellectuality  ruthlessly  prescribes,  there 
well  may  be,  but  the  love  which  comes  of  a perfect 
intimacy  of  mutual  knowledge  and  common  aspira- 
tion, there  can  rarely  be.  “A  companion  in  soli- 


JAPANESE  WOMEN. 


i8r 


Japanese — a fortiori,  there  is  little  of  the  fact. 
You  could  not  translate  the  love-letters  of  Abelard 
or  Fichte  into  Japanese. 

An  example  may  illustrate  this.  A young 
Japanese  nobleman  of  my  acquaintance,  holding 
a subordinate  official  position,  recently  became 


tude,  a father  in  advice,  a mother  in  all  seasons  of 
distress,  a rest  in  passing  through  life’s  wilderness  ” 
— such  an  ideal  of  wifehood  is  virtually  impossible. 
The  ghost  of  Confucius  forbids,  and  until  that  is 
exorcised,  it  will  remain  impossible.  The  very 
vocabulary  of  romantic  love  does  not  exist  in 


EN  DESHABILLE. 


i82 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


desperately  enamoured  of  a girl  whom  he  met 
in  the  country.  He  brought  her  to  Tokyo  and 
installed  her  in  a separate  establishment.  His 
wife,  however,  and  mother-in-law  discovered  the 
liaison,  great  family  jars  ensued,  paragraphs  ap- 
peared in  the  papers,  and  his  friends  feared  that 
the  scandal  would  result  in  the  loss  of  his  official 
position.  A compromise  was  therefore  effected, 
by  which  he  gives  up  the  establishment,  his  wife 
and  mother-in-law  cease  from  troubling,  the  girl 
returns  to  her  home  in  the  country,  and  comes  to 
stay  at  his  house  once  a month,  thus  (asking  Mr. 
John  Morley’s  pardon  for  the  paraphrase)  “adding 
to  the  gratification  of  physical  appetite  the  gro- 
tesque luxury  of  domestic  unction.” 

Marriage  is  a civil  contract,  without  religious 
or  official  ceremony.  The  ceremonies,  which  are 
elaborate,  are  confined  to  the  families  and  friends 
of  the  contracting  parties,  and  the  legal  recogni- 
tion takes  the  form  of  registration  in  the  govern- 
ment records.  Divorce  again — the  pis  aller  of 
marriage — is  theoretically  easier  in  Japan  than  in 
Chicago,  but  as  a matter  of  fact  the  intervention 
of  the  families  protects  the  wife  from  injustice  or 
caprice  in  all  cases  where  husband  and  wife  are 
respectable  enough  to  have  any  family  ties  at  all. 


JAPANESE  WOMEN 


I'he  higher  you  ascend  socially  the  more  hostile 
and  influential  are  the  forces  arrayed  against 
divorce.  A woman  may  also  sue  for  a divorce 
from  her  husband.  As  for  polygamy,  I take 
the  following  statement  from  a high  authority : — 
“ Strictly  speaking  polygamy  is  not  practised  in 
Japan  at  present.  Indeed,  it  has  never  been 
legal ; the  law  acknowledges  only  one  wife.  But 
concubinage  is  not  uncommon.  In  many  respect- 
able households  there  is  a concubine — perhaps 
two  or  even  three — in  addition  to  the  wife,  a 
miserable  state  of  affairs,  degrading,  unhappy,  and 
mediaeval.  Already  the  reform  advocated  by  the 
Kyofu-Kai  has  been  quietly  but  resolutely  put 
into  practice  in  the  circles  that  represent  modern 
Japan..  To  the  honour  of  the  official  classes,  of 
the  nobles,  and  of  the  leading  merchants,  it  must 
be  recorded  that,  with  few  exceptions,  concubinage 
is  no  longer  practised,  and  has  come  to  be  regarded 
as  inconsistent  with  civilization.  Whether  public 
opinion  is  ripe  for  the  criminal  condemnation  of 
the  custom,  we  cannot  pretend  to  say.”  ^ One  of 
the  vernacular  newspapers  commented  on  the 
above  in  a characteristic  Japanese  fashion.  It 
wrote: — “ Monogamy  has  been  the  law  .of  Japan 
^ Japmi  Weekly  Mail,  June  15th,  1889. 


f84 


THE  REAL  JAPAN 


from  ancient  times.  We  have  not  yet  heard  that 
the  system  of  polygamy  is  adopted.  Concubinage 
alone  exists.  By  all  means  let  concubinage  be 
abolished,  but  remember  that  each  country  has 
its  own  customs  and  habits.  Nothing  is  gained 
by  importing  exotic  fashions.  Even  though  laws 
were  framed  to  enforce  the  system  of  monogamy, 
if,  as  is  the  case  in  Western  lands,  adultery 
became  prevalent,  we  should  have  the  pretty 
name  of  monogamy  indeed,  but  the  reality  would 
be  ugly.  For  our  own  part,  we  don’t  believe 
that  everything  is  above  reproach  in  the  Christian 
marriage  system.” 

Notwithstanding  all  the  foregoing,  however,  the 
position  of  the  Japanese  wife  is  higher  than  in 
any  other  Oriental  country.  She  is  addressed  as 
0-ku-saniay  “ the  honourable  lady  of  the  house,” 
and  as  a rule  every  consideration  is  accorded  to 
her.  Because  of  the  innate  gentleness  of  the 
people  and  their  elaborate  and  rigorous  etiquette, 
the  relations  of  husband  and  wife  are  far  easier 
and  happier  than  the  actual  facts  regulating  them 
would  lead  one  to  suppose.  The  wife  is  faithful 
to  a fault,  and  adultery  on  her  part  is  almost 
unknown.  But  the  complete  civilization  of  Japan 
waits  for  the  enlightenment  and  greater  safe- 
guarding of  its  women. 


[AFANESE  WOMEN. 


185 

It  must  be  distinctly  understood  that  in  writing 
the  above  about  Japanese  women  and  wives,  I have 
had  in  view  chiefly  the  upper  class  of  the  gener- 
ation that  is,  and  that  even  in  this  there  are  many 
examples — among  the  Ministers,  for  instance — 
of  husband  and  wife  living  on  precisely  the  terms 
of  English  or  American  upper-class  couples.  The 
generation  that  is  growing  up  will  be  very  differ- 
ent. Not  only  will  the  men  of  it  be  more  Western, 
but  the  women  also.  As  girls  they  will  have  been 
to  schools  like  our  schools  at  home  ; they  will 
have  learned  English  and  history  and  geography 
and  science  and  foreign  music,  perhaps  even 
something  of  politics  and  political  economy. 
They  will  know  something  of  “ society  ” as  we 
use  the  term,  and  will  both  seek  it  and  make  it. 
The  old  home-life  will  become  unbearable  to  the 
woman  and  she  will  demand  the  right  of  choosing 
her  husband  just  as  much  as  he  chooses  her. 
Then  the  rest  will  be  easy,  with  its  possibilities 
of  inconceivable  heights  and  unspeakable  depths. 

The  great  question  before  the  Japanese  woman 
at  present  is  the  question  of  dress.  Shall  she 
give  up  her  beautiful  and  beloved  costume,  and 
adopt  the  strange  and  uncomfortable  attire  of  the 
foreign  woman,  or  shall  she  not?  It  is  a very 


i86 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


serious  question  indeed  for  her  and  for  her  coun- 
try, and  no  wonder,  as  a Japanese  friend  has  just 
written  to  me,  that  “ the  ladies,  who  are  not 
accustomed  to  decision,  cannot  but  feel  great 
pain  in  their  bosom  how  to  make  best.”  The 
arguments  are  very  conflicting.  On  the  one 
hand,  there  is  the  Empress’s  own  example  and 
her  order  that  no  lady  shall  appear  at  Court  in 
other  than  foreign  dress.  Then  there  is  the 
natural  desire  not  to  appear  old-fashioned  before 
their  fellows.  The  desire  of  their  husbands  is 
also  in  many  cases  on  the  side  of  foreign  dress, 
and  so  are  the  public  appeals  of  many  influential 
men,  such  as  the  Minister  of  Education.  How- 
ever, there  are  certain  undoubted  advantages 
of  foreign  dress  over  Japanese,  such  as  greater 
freedom  of  movement  and  greater  ease  and 
modesty  in  sitting  upon  chairs.  But  on  the 
other  side,  Japanese  women  have  infinitely  too 
much  taste  not  to  see  that  their  own  dress  is 
far  more  beautiful.  They  know,  too,  that  it  is 
much  less  expensive,  because  it  is  so  much  more 
durable  and  never  goes  out  of  fashion.  It  is 
likewise  evident  to  most  of  them  that  genera- 
tions of  training  will  be  needed  before  Japanese 
women  can  wear  the  artificial  foreign  dress  as 


JAPANESE  WOMEN 


187 


cleverly  and  elegantly  as  European  and  American 
ladies.  Then,  too,  the  public  appeal  to  the 
women  of  Japan,  signed  by  Mrs.  Cleveland,  Mrs. 
Garfield,  and  a score  of  the  leading  ladies  of  the 
United  States,  trusting  that  they  are  “too  pat- 
riotic to  endanger  the  health  of  a nation,  and 
to  abandon  what  Is  beautiful  and  suitable  in 
their  national  costume,  and  to  waste  money  on 
foreign  fashions,”  has  naturally  made  a great 
impression  upon  them. 

My  friend  Dr.  Seiken  Takenaka,  of  the  Tokyo 
Military  Hospital,  has  been  investigating  this 
great  question,  and  with  German-like  precision 
he  has  embodied  his  results  in  a table.  Copies 
of  this  table  he  has  caused  to  be  circulated  with  a 
popular  ladies’  magazine,  with  a request  that  the 
fair  readers,  if  they  disagree  with  him  on  any 
point,  will  correct  it  and  return  it  to  him.  Thus 
he  hopes  to  establish  a valuable  consensus.  He 
compares  Japanese  and  foreign  dress  for  both 
men  and  women  from  the  five  points  of  view  of 
hygiene,  art,  expense,  durability,  and  flexibility — 
i.e.,  power  of  altering  a garment  so  that  a mother’s 
will  serve  for  a daughter,  a brother’s  for  a sister, 
a man’s  for  a woman,  &c.,  and  his  opinions  upon 
this  complicated  problem  are  shown  as  follows  : — 


i88 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


Middle  and  Upper-class  Dress. 


'a.  Does  it  deform  the  natural  human 
body? 

b.  Easy  or  difficult  of  adaptation  to 

heat  and  cold  ? 

c.  Easy  or  difficult  defence  from  wind 

and  rain  ? 

d.  Is  exercise  easy  or  difficult  in  it  ? 

e.  In  summer  it  is 

f.  In  winter  it  is 

\g.  Is  the  wearer  liable  to  take  cold  ? 

Art. — As  regards  beauty  (when  worn,  by 

Japanese)  it  is 

(Making 


Male. 

Jap.  Foreign. 


easy 


diff. 


U {Material - 

Durability  ? 

Flexibility. — Is  it  easy  to  alter? 

Result 


diffi  easy 
diff.  easy 
cool  hot 
warm  cold 
no  yes 

good  bad 
little  very 
much 

— equal  — 
short  ? long 
easy  diff. 
— good 


Female. 

JL 


Jap- 

JL 

Foreign. 

no 

yes 

easy 

diff. 

diff. 

diff. 

diff. 

easy 

cool 

hot 

warm 

cold 

no 

yes 

best 

middling 

little 

very 

much 

cheap 

dear 

? short 

? long 

easy 

diff. 

good 

— 

All  these  decisions  seem  to  me  indisputable,  ex- 
cept those  regarding  durability.  I should  say 
that  both  Japanese  male  and  female  dress  is  far 
superior  to  foreign  in  point  of  durability,  and  the 
other  Japanese  whom  I have  consulted  bear  me 
out  in  this  view.  The  deductions  as  to  the  best 
dress.  Dr.  Takenaka  draws  from  his  own  table 
as  follows  : — 


Business  dress 

Leisure  dress  { 

Night  dress 

Invalids’  dress 

Children’s  dress  | ’ 

Babies’  dress 


.Foreign. 

.Japanese. 

.Japanese. 

.Japanese. 

..Japanese. 

.Japanese. 

Foreign. 

.Japanese. 

.Japanese. 


That  is,  taking  all  points  into  consideration,  Japa- 


JAPANESE  WOMEN 


nese  dress  is  best  except  for  boy’s  clothing  and 
the  business  dress  of  men.  “ Let  us  reform 
Japanese  dress,”  he  adds,  “so  as  to  remedy  its 
defects,  taking  care  not  to  deprive  it  of  its  natural 
beauty,  then  we  may  be  sure  that  we  have  the 
best  dress  in  the  world.”  I do  not  see  how  any- 
body who  has  given  attention  to  the  subject  can 
disagree  with  this  conclusion.  The  question  is, 
how  shall  the  defects  be  remedied  ? 

The  original  Japanese  belle  was  “a  girl  with  a 
white  face,  a long  slender  throat  and  neck,  a 
narrow  chest,  small  limbs,  and  small  hands  and 
feet  ; ” but  the  best  description  I know  of  the 
Japanese  woman  as  she  meets  the  eye  to-day 
is  in  McClatchie’s  very  clever  and  amusing  verse 
translations  of  some  Japanese  plays,  and  is  as 
analytically  accurate  as  it  is  amusing.  This  is 
Lady  Kokonoye  : — 

“ Her  figure  so  trim 

As  the  willow  tree’s  bough  is  as  graceful  and  slim ; 

Her  complexion’s  as  white  as  is  Fuji’s  hoar  peak 
’Neath  the  snows  of  midwinter — like  damask  her  cheek — 
With  a dear  little  nose, 

And  two  eyes  black  as  sloes, 

And  a pair  of  ripe  lips  which,  when  parted,  disclose 
Pearly  teeth — her  fine  eyebrows  obliquely  are  set, 

(In  Japan  that’s  a beauty) — her  hair’s  dark  as  jet, 

And  is  coiled  in  thick  masses  on  top  of  her  pate. 


190 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


In  a wonderful  chigno7i  as  big  as  a plate ; — 

(There  are  eight  styles  of  chignoft,  just  here  I may  tell 
My  fair  readers,  as  known  to  the  Japanese  betle). 

Then,  to  heighten  the  beauty  bestowed  on  the  part 
Of  kind  Nature,  she’s  called  in  th’  assistance  of  Art, 

For  rice-powder  to  render  more  dazzlingly  fair 

Her  face,  hands,  neck,  and  chin — cherry  oil  for  her  hair — 

Just  a souppn  of  rouge  to  embellish  her  lip — 

And  a host  of  cosmetics  my  mem’ry  that  slip  : — 

To  complete  the  fair  picture  of  bright  loveliness, 

Add  to  all  this  the  charm  of  her  elegant  dress : 

Satin,  crape,  and  brocade 
Here  contribute  their  aid 

For  the  long  flowing  garments  in  which  she’s  arrayed. 
Which  hang  loose  from  her  shoulders,  in  fanciful  fold, 

All  embroidered  with  storks  and  plum-blossoms  in  gold ; 
Next,  a broad  velvet  girdle  encircles  her  waist, 

Tied  behind  in  a huge  bow — her  feet  are  encased 
In  small  spotless  white  stockings,  which  timidly  peep 
From  beneath  her  red  jupon's  elaborate  sweep  ; 

Add  a hair-pin  of  tortoise-shell,  dainty  to  see  ; ' 

On  her  brow  place  a circlet  of  gilt  filigree.” 

“In  all  its  essentials,”  it  has  been  truly  said, 
“the  female  costume  of  Japan  has  remained  the 
same,  decade  after  decade : graceful,  artistic, 
comfortable,  and  wholesome.  The  women  of 
this  country  never  abbreviated  the  interval  be- 
tween themselves  and  savagery  by  boring  holes 
in  their  ears  to  hang  baubles  there,  by  loading 
their  fingers  with  rings,  by  encasing  their  breasts 
in  frames  of  steel  and  bone,  by  distorting  their  feet 


JAPANESE  WOMEN 


191 


with  high-heeled  shoes,  by  tricking  their  heads 
with  feathers,  and  by  sticking  dead  birds  over  their 
raiment.”  The  dress  of  a Japanese  woman  of  the 
middle  or  upper  classes  begins  with  yiunoji,  a 
rectangular  piece  . • 

of  stuff  wrapped ' ■ 

round  the  loins  and 
reaching  to  the 
knee,  like  the  towel 
of  a shampooer.  . 

Over  this  comes  a 
beautiful  garment 
called  the  jiban,  a 
robe  like  a perfectly  . 
simple  bath-gown 
with  square  sleeves, 
fitting  quite  close 
to  the  body,  and 
generally  made  of 
delicate  and  pale- 
coloured  silk  crape. 

In  winter  an  addi- 
tional garment  called  the  shitagi  gO(is>  over  this — all 
the  garments  of  a Japanese  woman  after  the  first 
petticoat  are  identical  in  shape  and  fit  into  one 
another  like  a nest  of  boxes.  In  summer  over 


192 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


the  jiban  comes  the  outer  dress,  called  for  either 
man  or  woman  the  kimono.  This  may  be  made 
of  pretty  cotton  stuffs  or  cotton  crape  for  house- 
hold wear,  or  of  silk  crape  or  silk,  or  the  richest 
embroidery  and  brocade  for  full  dress  and  cere- 
monial occasions.  It  is  tied  at  the  waist  with  a 
long  sash  of  soft  silk  crape,  called  the  hoso-obi., 
wound  round  several  times.  Round  the  wearer’s 
waist,  above  this,  is  worn  that  most  striking 
feature  of  Japanese  female  costume,  the  obi. 
This  is  a piece  of  the  thickest  silk  or  brocade 
about  twelve  feet  long  and  thirty  inches  wide, 
and  may  cost  anywhere  from  five  to  five  hundred 
dollars.  It  is  the  pride  of  the  Japanese  woman, 
and  a magnificent  obi  is  the  Japanese  equivalent 
for  the  conventional  diamonds  which  a lover 
gives  to  his  mistress  with  us.  The  tying  of  an 
obi  is  a very  difficult  task,  and  reveals  the  taste 
and  cultivation  of  the  wearer  almost  as  much  as 
the  throw  of  the  himation  did  in  Greece.  Indeed, 
a woman  can  hardly  tie  her  obi  properly  without 
assistance.  The  stuff  is  folded  lengthwise,  giving 
it  a breadth  of  about  fifteen  inches,  then  wound 
very  tightly  twice  round  the  waist,  with  the  folded 
edge  downwards,  thus  making  a deep  and  handy 
pocket  in  the  fold.  One  end  is  measured  to  the 


JAPANESE  IVOMEN 


193 


left  knee  and  left  loose,  then  the  long  loose  end 
behind  is  turned  round  at  a right  angle  and  let 
fall  into  an  enormous  bow,  then  the  bottom  of 
this  bow  is  gathered  up  into  a smaller  inner  bow, 
the  short  loose  end  is  turned  back  upon  the  end 
of  this,  and  a flat  elastic  silk  band,  called  the  obi- 
dome,  is  stretched  over  this  to  hold  both  ends  and 
both  bows  in  place,  brought  round  to  the  front 
and  the  two  ends  hooked  together  in  a little  gold 
ornament  of  some  kind.  This  description  is 
doubtless  unintelligible,  but  the  process  is  difficult 
enough  to  follow,  to  say  nothing  of  describing  it. 
The  costume  is  completed  by  a pair  of  tabi,  white 
boots  with  a separate  place  for  the  great  toe,  like 
Dr.  Jaeger’s  digitated  stockings,  the  sole  made  of 
thick  woven  cotton  and  the  upper  part  of  white 
silk.  Sometimes  a chemisette,  or  haji-yeri,  of 
delicately  worked  or  embroidered  silk  is  worn 
under  the  kimono  to  show  a pretty  edge  round  the 
open  neck  and  to  keep  the  chest  warmer  as  well. 

From  this  analysis — for  venturing  on  it,  by  the 
way,  “ I humbly  beg  pardon  of  Heaven  and  the 
lady,”  as  Mr.  Pepys  did  when  he  kissed  the  cook 
— the  beauty,  hygienic  value,  and  comfort  of  such 
a costume  are  obvious.  A Japanese  lady  in  the 
privacy  of  her  boudoir  or  to  go  to  the  bath  can 


194  the  real  japan. 

remove  everything  but  the  jiban  and  hoso-obi  and 
still  be  exquisitely  and  modestly  dressed — in  fact, 
dressed  exactly  like  a Greek  woman.  Her 
clothing  can  be  warm  enough  for  the  Arctic 
regions  or  cool  enough  for  the  tropics  without  the 
slightest  alteration  of  shape.  The  vital  organs 

are  protected  and 
supported  naturally 
by  the  massive  obi, 
and  its  great  verti- 
^ cal  bow  satisfies  per- 
fectly, as  well  as 
most  gracefully  and 
naturally,  that  desire 
to  have  something 
to  conceal  the  na- 
tural shape  of  the 
back,  which  is  one 
of  the  mysteries  of 
the  female  mind, 
AFTER  THE  BATH.  and  which  has  de- 

veloped among  ourselves  the  most  vulgar  and 
atrocious  article  of  wear  ever  invented — the 
“bustle”  or  “dress-improver.”  The  defects,  of 
course,  of  Japanese  female  costume  are  that 
freedom  of  movement  of  the  legs  is  impeded,  and 


JAPANESE  WOMEN 


195 


that  while  it  is  perfectly  modest  for  squatting  or 
kneeling  on  mats,  the  lower  limbs  are  not  covered 
with  sufficient  certainty  when  the  wearer  moves 
rapidly  or  sits  on  chairs  and  lounges.  This  latter 
defect,  the  lady  signatories  of  the  American 
appeal  declared  could  be  “ easily  remedied  by 
wearing  additional  underclothing,”  and  they  ought 
to  know.  But  another  plan  has  been  very  in- 
fluentially advocated  of  late,  namely,  the  general 
adoption  by  ladies  of  the  national  article  of  dress 
called  haka7fia,  a pair  of  very  loose  trousers,  the 
legs  of  which  are  so  wide  that  the  division 
between  them  is  seldom  visible,  with  a broad  stiff 
waistband — a “ divided  skirt,”  in  fact.  This 
would  be  absolutely  modest,  it  would  admit  of 
perfect  freedom  of  movement,  it  would  involve  no 
departure  from  national  habit  and  ideas,  since  the 
hakama  is  a part  of  the  full  dress  of  the  Japanese 
gentleman  of  to-day,  and  the  appearance  of  it, 
with  the  short  hussar-like  jacket  which  necessarily 
replaces  the  kimono,  is  charming.  But,  for  my 
own  part,  I should  regard  the  sacrifice  of  the 
kimono,  with  its  long  graceful  Greek  folds,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  disappearance  of  the  obi,  as  almost 
equivalent  to  the  destruction  of  the  beauty  of  the 
whole  costume.  And  I cannot  see  why  the 


196 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


kimono  should  not  be  made  wide  enough  to  wrap 
round  the  lower  part  of  the  body  so  completely  as 
to  serve  every  purpose  of  a skirt.  Or,  better 
still,  the  kimono  itself  might  be  made  bag-shaped, 
either  from  the  neck  or  only  below  the  waist,  and 
put  on  over  the  head,  like  the  diploidion  of  the 
ladies  of  old  Greece,  in  which  a satyr  could  not 
detect  immodesty,  and  movement  is  perfectly 
easy,  and  which  I saw  charmingly  worn  in  public 
by  a young  lady  at  the  performances  of  the 
Eztmenides  at  Cambridge.  That  would  meet 
every  difficulty  without  altering  even  the  appear- 
ance of  the  present  Japanese  dress.  The  details 
of  Greek  costume  are  quite  unknown  even  to  the 
educated  Japanese,  and  I strongly  urge  them  to 
experiment  upon  this  suggestion. 

The  real  reason,  of  course,  why  the  authorities 
have  been  setting  the  example  and  encouraging 
the  adoption  of  foreign  dress  for  both  men  and 
women  in  Japan,  is  a political  one.  They  desire 
to  introduce  the  foreign  manner  of  living,  as  the 
natural  corollary  and  support  of  foreign  institu- 
tions, and  they  know  that  if  they  can  only  make 
foreign  dress  universal,  Japanese  houses  will  in- 
evitably be  replaced  by  foreign  houses,  for  coats 
and  trousers  demand  chairs  and  tables,  and  these 


JAPANESE  WOMEN 


197 


again  render  the  soft  matted  floors  impossible, 
and  then  the  country  will  be  finally  and  completely 
Westernized.  One  of  the  gross  misconceptions 
that  prevails  abroad  about  Japan — I was  told  it 
even  while  crossing  the  Pacific — is  that  foreign 
dress  is  now  generally  worn.  Nothing  could  be 
more  ridiculously 
untrue.  In  the 
streets  of  Tokyo,  a 
city  of  over  a mil- 
lion inhabitants, 
there  is  perhaps  one 
man  in  foreign  dress 
out  of  five  hundred 
— I am  inclined  to 
think  that  one  in  a 
thousand  would  be 
nearer  the  mark — 
while  in  the  country 
you  will  not  find 

one  in  ten  thousand.  “ the  latest  style.” 

In  the  city  you  perhaps  see  two  or  three  Japanese 
ladies  in  a foreign  dress  in  a week,  but  in  the 
country  you  would  not  see  as  many  in  a year. 
At  a fashionable  semi-official  ball  in  Tokyo  there 
was  a large  number  of  the  leading  ladies  wear- 


198 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


ing  foreign  dress,  and  a sadder  sight  I never 
saw.  Most  of  them  would  have  looked  charming 
in  their  own  clothes,  but  as  it  was  (with  the 
exception  of  one  marquise  who  would  be  beautiful 
in  a flour-sack)  they  were  simply  appalling — so 
badly  fitted,  the  foreign  colours  so  tastelessly  com- 
bined, so  awkward,  so  ill  at  ease,  that  if  the 
spectacle  had  not  been  really  sad  and  piteous,  one 
could  not  have  repressed  one’s  laughter.  “Voyez- 
vous,”  remarked  a foreign  diplomat  to  whom  I 
was  talking,  as  he  turned  on  his  heel  and  left  the 
room,  “le  Japon  d’aujourdhui,  c’est  une  traduction 
mal  faite  ! ” The  epigram  is  as  untrue  as  it  is 
clever,  but  the  circumstances  fairly  provoked  it. 
Except  the  Court,  the  Army,  and  the  Civil 
Service,  however,  foreign  dress  has  yet  no  hold 
in  Japan,  and  almost  every  man,  from  the 
millionaire  to  the  Government  clerk,  hastens  to 
put  if  off  as  soon  as  he  gets  inside  his  own  door. 
And  foreign  dress  and  foreign  houses  and  foreign 
food — it  is  a case  of  all  or  none — mean  living  at 
a scale  of  much  greater  expense  than  the  Japanese 
people  are  at  present  either  willing  or  able  to 
afford.  Moreover,  of  one  thing  I am  quite  con- 
vinced, namely  that  if  Japanese  women  generally 
adopt  foreign  dress,  the  stream  of  foreign  visitors 


JAPANESE  WOMEN 


199 


will  turn  aside  from  Japan.  Instead  of  beauty 
there  will  be  ashes — instead  of  a charm  that  the 
world  cannot  surpass  there  will  be  the  ugliness 
from  which  it  apparently  cannot  escape. 


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JAPANESE  JINKS. 


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IX. 


JAPANESE  JINKS. 

JAPAN  has  been 
well  called  the  Third 
Kingdom  of  Merry 
Dreams.  Amusement 
is  universal  here,  and 
so  far  from  it  being 
true  that  “ laughter  is 
man’s  property  alone,” 
everybody  laughs  — 
excepting  the  solemn 
policeman — men,  wo- 
men, and  children, 
even  the  very  dogs 
have  a twinkle  in 
their  eyes  as  they  stretch  themselves  out 
over  the  middle  of  the  streets,  and  seem  to 
smile  as  the  coolies  pulling  jinrikishas  run  round 
them.  For  a man  would  no  more  think  of 


13 


204 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


running  over  a dog’s  tail,  if  the  dog  did 
not  move,  than  he  would  think  of  pinching 
his  grandfather,  and  I have  been  almost  jerked 
out  of  my  jinrikis ha  by  the  sudden  twist  my  men 
have  made  round  the  long  tail  which  some  lazy 
cur  had  stretched  across  the  street.  I saw  a 
schoolboy  steal  up  behind  another  schoolboy 
and  hit  him  a tremendous  thwack  over  the 
head  with  a heavy  roll  of  paper  he  was  carrying. 
Did  the  first  one  angrily  threaten  or  attempt  to 
punch  his  head”*.^  Not  a bit,  he  turned  round 
and  they  both  laughed  heartily.  Many  a time 
my  heart  has  been  in  my  mouth  as  my  two  coolies 
have  plunged  headlong  into  a crowd  intent  on 
some  street  performance,  and  it  seemed  impossible 
to  avoid  knocking  down  men  and  women  and 
running  over  little  children.  But  no,  the  coolies 
raise  a great  shout,  shove  half  the  people  one 
wa}^  and  half  the  other,  and  as  the  spokes  of 
the  wheel  graze  their  shins  and  almost  take  the 
top-knots  off  the  little  people,  do  they  turn  and 
hurl  curses  after  us,  as  a crowd  responds  to 
such  treatment  anywhere  else?  Not  they,  they 
just  burst  out  laughing.  Sometimes,  however, 
this  laughter  seems  superfluous.  Suppose,  for 
instance,  at  a tea-house  entertainment  you  desire 


A Geisha  Dancing. — V. 

{A71  Instantaneous  Photograph.^ 


JAPANESE  JINKS. 


207 


to  make  one  of  the  large-sized  compliments 
customary  in  this  country  to  the  diamond-eyed 
geisha  who  waits  on  you  or  plays  to  you  or 
dances  for  you.  You  pull  yourself  together 
philologically,  and  remember  'that  the  politest 
possessive  case  is  an  honorific  prefix — O me,  “ the 
honourable  eyes  ” — that’s  good — then  by  a happy 
thought  you  add  the  suffix  which  denotes  the 
nominative — O me  wa — what  is  “ stars,”  you  ask 
yourself  O yes,  O me  zva  hoshi — you’re  getting 
along  splendidly,  and  then  by  a flash  of  linguistic 
genius  you  get  the  crooked  idiom  for  “ are  in  the 
manner  of”  all  right  (of  course  you’ve  mastered 
the  syntax  before),  O me  zva  hoshi  no  yd  ni — 
there  remains  the  crowning  adjective  with  which 
you  are,  as  a French  lady  I knew  used  to  say,  to 
make  your  little  effect.  This,  no  doubt,  you 
have  carefully  loaded  yourself  with  beforehand,  so 
assuming  your  tenderest  and  sincerest  expression 
you  confidently  touch  it  off — O me  zva  hoshi  no  yd 
ni  senkentaru — “Your  eyes  are  as  supremely 
beautiful  as  the  stars  ! ” The  sentiment  is 
perhaps  a trifle  hackneyed,  but  then  linguistically 
as  well  as  otherwise  “ on  ne  peut  donner  que  ce 
qu’on  a,”  and  she  would  hardly  expect  you  to 
translate  her  a canto  of  Rossetti  or  Coventry  Pat- 


2o8 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


more.  So  you  have  every  reason  to  be  satisfied^ 
because  speaking  Japanese  is  not  quite  like  playing 
on  a musical  box — it  is  more  like  the  crumpled 
French  horn.  But  what  is  this  ? Everybody  ex- 
plodes simultan- 
eously into  one 
long  wholesome 
peal  of  laughter, 
the  little  darlings 
hold  their  sides 
and  hide  their 
faces  in  their 
sleeves,  and  your 
particular  fancy 
clasps  the  hand 
you  had  extended 
to  her  with  a 
fine  Mozartian 
Reich’  mir  die 
Hand,  mein  Le- 
ben  ” air  and  in- 
tention, for  the 
entirely  prosaic  and  cold-blooded  purpose  of 
saving  herself  from  toppling  over  sideways.  You 
are  naturally  highly  indignant  at  such  an  out- 
rage of  your  tenderest  efforts,  and  for  the  next 


JAPANESE  JINKS, 


209 


twenty-four  hours  you  speak  Japanese  in  mono- 
syllables and  bully  your  coolies  in  “ pidgin/’ 
Decidedly  sometimes  Japanese  laughter  is  super- 
fluous. Afterwards  you  discover  what  provoked 
it  on  this  occasion.  Your  Japanese  was  perfect 
up  to  the  last  word,  but  then  instead  of  taking  an 
ordinary  word  for  “ beautiful,”  like  kirei  or 
zUsitkushii,  you  must  take  the  biggest  of  all,  and 
so  at  the  end  of  a sentence  of  colloquial  Japanese 
you  stuck  a Chinese  literary  word  of  the  most 
high-flown  and  dithyrambic  character,  which  none 
of  your  lady  listeners  had  ever  heard  in  their 
lives,  producing  a total  effect  infinitely  more  in- 
congruous and  absurd  than  the  bricklaying  of 
“ Mike  with  the  gold-plated  hod  ” or  the  serenade 
of  the  Bengali  Babu  who  described  himself  as  being 
“ Contiguous  to  the  portals  of  thy  gate.”  But 
the  soft-eyed  ladykin’s  laughter  has  no  malice  in 
it,  and  when  by  and  by,  the  feast  over,  she  takes 
your  hand  and  leads  you  gently  away  to  the  place 
where  you  deposited  “ the  honourable  boots,” 
she  would  give  you  a kiss  if  you  wished  it  (and 
who  would  not  ?)  except  for  the  fact  that  the 
Western  kiss  is  unknown  in  Japan,  and  the  native 
kiss  is  an  evolution  to  be  studied,  not  an  evanes- 
cence to  be  snatched. 


210 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


While  I am  on  the  subject  of  Japanese  philo- 
logy there  are  two  other  stories  worth  telling.  The 
Japanese  saluation  “Good-morning,”  is  OJiayo, 
pronounced  0-hie-o.  Now  when  the  former 
American  Minister  Judge  Bingham  arrived  at 
Japan  and  alighted  in  state  at  the  pier  at  Yoko- 
hama, the  crowd  greeted  him  with  cries  Okayo, 
Ohayo  ! “ Burned  clever  people  these,”  remarked 
the  flattered  judge ; “ how  the  deuce  did  they 
know  I was  from  Ohio?”  The  other  story  was 
told  me  by  one  of  the  Tokyo  editors  who  speaks 
English  very  well.  “ How  do  you  say  ‘ Good- 
morning’ in  Japanese,  Mr.  Fukuchi?”an  Ame- 
rican lady  asked  him.  “ Ohayo,  Madam,”  he 
replied.  “Ah,”  she  said,  “that  is  very  easy  to 
remember,  because  it’s  the  name  of  one  of  the 
States  of  my  own  country.”  Next  morning  he 
was  walking  along,  and  the  lady  passed  him  in  a 
jinrikisha.  “ Mr.  Fukuchi,”  she  cried,  “ Illinois, 
Illinois  !”  A little  Japanese,  by  the  way,  is  very 
easily  learned,  and  if  you  add  to  a small  voca- 
bulary a dozen  or  so  of  the  multitude  of  quaint 
and  pointed  Japanese  proverbs,  and  carefully 
acquire  the  exact  pronunciation  of  these,  you 
can  soon  secure  a reputation  for  conversational 
fluency.  Moreover,  the  presence  of  an  inter- 


JAPANESE  JINKS. 


2IT 


preter  is  a nuisance  at  the  investigation  of  many 
of  the  things  that  a student  of  men  and  manners 
wants  to  know.  But  to  speak  Japanese  with  ease 
and  accuracy  is  an  extremely  rare  accomplish- 
ment for  a foreigner.  As  for  “ English  as  she 
is  spoke”  by  the  Japanese,  I could  give  dozens 
of  examples.  A friend,  for  instance,  who  is  an 
educated  gentleman,  with  a high  legal  degree, 
wrote  to  me  the  other  day  urging  me  to  travel 
by  a certain  route,  because  there  “the  scene’s 
delight,  the  cooler  clime,  the  folk’s  disinterested- 
ness, all  combine  to  make  us  happy.” 

And  there  is  one  other  specimen  I have  come 
across,  which  seems  worth  preserving.  It  is  a 
poem  on  “The  Waterfall  at  Yoro,  near  Lake 
Biwa,”  and  exhibits  a delicious  mixture  of  lin- 
guistic confidence  and  Japanese  poetic  style  : — 

“ The  name  is  well-known  by  the  all, 

The  graceful  scene  from  old  to  now  ; 

Not  only  scene  but  waterfall 
With  silver  colour,  sail  like  bow. 

It’s  thundering  shakes  country  round, 

Dash’d  in  a cloud  of  water. 

Small  silver  balls  on  loftily  send 
Heavy  mist  and  ceaseless  shower. 

It  comes  far  up  the  mountain  to 
Below,  a flow  of  water,  then 


212 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


A river,  with  the  branches  two 
Running  quickly  to  the  ocean. 

Oh  ! gentle,  gentle,  very  poor  boy. 

His  mind  so  obey  father’s  sake, 

A sweet  sake.  Thou,  spout  out  by. 

How  joyful  tears  on  face  he  take. 

Once  and  once  emperor’s  visit. 

Matter  was  pleasant,  and  in  sure 
^Emperor’s  mind  joyful  was  set ; 

Honourable  name  to  the  year.”  ^ 

But  to  return  to  our  jinks.  These  may  be 
divided  into  High  Jinks  and  Low  Jinks — the 
high  fever  and  the  low  fever  of  pleasure.  The 
former  are  those  that  must  be  prepared  before- 
hand ; the  latter  require  only  the  stretching  out 
of  the  hand — or  rather  of  the  les^s.  Of  Low 
Jinks,  again,  there  is  this  difference,  either  you 
may  go  to  them  or  you  may  have  them  brought 
to  you.  A Japanese  gentleman  does  not  often 
go  to  a theatre,  nor  indeed,  if  he  is  specially 
careful  of  his  own  reputation,  to  a tea-house ; a 
Japanese  lady,  never.  Therefore  the  people 
whose  business  it  is  to  amuse  others  hold  them- 
selves in  readiness  to  respond  at  all  times  to  a 
private  summons,  and  a Japanese  host  provides 
after-dinner  dancers,  or  story-tellers,  or  jugglers, 
^ Jajm  Mai/,  July  14,  1888. 


JAPANESE  JINKS. 


213 


or  musicians,  just  as  at  home  we  should  order  a 
Punch  and  Jud}%  or  a conjurer  for  a children’s 
party,  or  a De  Lara  for  the  “grown-ups.’  The 
Low  Jinks,  however,  that  you  go  in  search  of, 
are  more  attractive  and  interesting,  as  well  as 
much  more  varied  and  universal,  so  I shall  deal 
chiefly  with  them. 

As  an  example,  however,  of  the  ingenuity  and 
charm  of  the  finer  kind  of  Japanese  entertain- 
ment, here  is  a description — for  sufficient  reasons, 
from  another  pen  — of  an  evening  I had  the 
pleasure  of  spending  at  the  country  seat  of  Mr. 
Iwasaki,  near  Tokyo.  “ The  house,  a summer 
villa,  is  built  in  the  chastest  Japanese  style,  of 
milk-white  timbers,  knotless  and  spotless,  abso- 
lutely inornate,  yet  so  pure  in  aspect  and  so  fairly 
proportioned  that  no  structure  could  accord  better 
with  its  surroundings.  Here  the  guests  were 
received,  and  here  three  times  their  number 
might  have  been  amply  accommodated.  But  this 
would  not  have  suited  Mr.  Iwasaki’s  princely 
ideas  of  hospitality.  Hastily  as  the  party  had 
been  got  up,  only  four  days  having  separated  the 
time  of  its  conception  from  that  of  the  arrival  of 
the  invitations,  it  was  found  possible  to  erect,  on 
the  east  side  of  the  lake,  a separate  pavilion 


214 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


with  spacious  verandah,  vestibule,  waiting-rooms, 
and  a theatre  for  private  theatricals  attached. 
Associating  this  extraordinary  feat  with  the 
pavilion's  absolute  freedom  from  any  suspicion  of 
newmess  or  garishness,  its  charming  combination 
of  neutral  tints — pearl-white  verandah,  mellow 
brown  roof,  and  celadon  walls — the  brilliant  in- 
candescence of  electric  lamps  pendant  from  its 
ceiling  and  the  softer  glow  of  coloured  lanterns 
hanging  from  its  eaves,  one  could  well  imagine 
oneself  in  some  land  of  artistic  fairies.  By  six 
o’clock,  just  as  the  cool  of  evening  was  beginning 
to  succeed  a veritable  July  day,  the  guests  had  all 
assembled.  The  beauties  of  the  park  were  of 
course  a theme  of  universal  admiration.  These 
things  find  no  such  ardent  devotees  as  in  Japan. 
And  since  in  Japan  the  farce  of  attempting  to 
describe  them  verbally  is  never  attempted,  let  us 
loyally  observe  the  national  reticence.  One 
feature,  however,  we  may  be  permitted  to  notice 
as  thoroughly  characteristic  of  Japanese  habits  of 
thought.  Emerging  fromi  the  inner  park,  where 
not  a solitary  weed  could  be  seen  on  the  broad 
parter7'es  or  in  the  pine  forests,  and  resting  for  a 
moment  on  a hill  wTere  still  stands  the  rock  seat 
used  by  the  ill-fated  Taikun,  Yanagisawa’s  pupil 


JAPANESE  JINKS. 


215 


and  victim,  one  passes  by  devious  avenues  into  a 
space  that  seems  to  belon^^  wholly  to  the  outer  and 
rougher  world.  By  the  side  of  a ragged-edged 
dusty  road,  running  through  entanglements  of 
wild  wood  and  creeper-choked  bush,  stands  a 
little  rustic  hovel,  furnished  with  all  the  rude 
necessaries  that  a humble  wayfarer  might  seek. 
Here  hangs  a bundle  of  roughly-plaited  sandals, 
there  a string  of  dried  fish  ; on  deal  stalls  lie 
hard  eggs,  beans  boiled  on  their  stalks,  the  peren- 
nial cup  of  tea,  the  rarer  bottle  of  sake,  and  over 
all  presides  a hostess  clad  in  cotton  and  smiles, 
with  that  essentially  Japanese  air  of  poverty  that 
loves  to  be  cheerful  and  clean,  and  the  never 
absent  bamboo  vase  of  wild  flowers.  The  illu- 
sion is  perfect.  You  feel  that  you  are  a penurious 
traveller  ; that  the  dust  of  the  long  road  clings  to 
your  weary  feet  ; that  you  have  earned  a right  to 
rest  amid  this  homeliness,  humility  and  thrift. 
The  lordly  park  and  its  luxurious  adjuncts  fade 
into  the  region  of  blessed  memories,  and  you  find 
it  perfectly  natural  to  see  His  Excellency  the 
Minister  of  Finance  biting  at  a hard-boiled  egg 
and  sipping  a cup  of  sake,  His  Excellency  the 
Minister  of  Communications  coming  to  terms 
with  a string  of  eda-mame,  and  the  leading 


2i6 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


banker  of  Japan  munching  a sugar-coated  semhei. 
This  is  picnicing  with  a moral.  While  Dives 
takes  his  ease  in  his  inn,  Lazarus — you  are  grace- 
fully but  forcibly  reminded — toils  along  amid  the 
burden,  the  heat,  the  dust,  and  the  hardship  of  a 
world  that  has  no  respect  for  anything  but  dollars. 
The  suggestion  is  not  obstinately  obtrusive.  It 
cannot  long  survive  the  renewed  presence  of  the 
lake  with  its  rich  reflection  of  environing  cedars 
and  sloping  sward.  But  it  has  added  to  enjoy- 
ment of  these  luxuries  a pensive  zest  that  dispels 
the  last  feeling  of  restraint  or  conventionality. 
The  dinner — how  tamely  -the  word  sounds  ! — 
was  absolutely  Japanese,  the  fitting  adjunct  of 
perfectly  attired  and  perfectly  graceful  little 
Abigails.  The  stage  was  only  once  used  ; two 
of  Tokyo’s  celebrated  danseuses  briefly  displayed 
upon  it  a little  weaving  of  solemn  paces  and 
waving  of  tiny  hands.  For  the  rest,  the  easy 
abandon  of  a Japanese  feast,  its  hospitable  silence 
and  its  merry  talk,  were  accompanied  only  by  a 
brilliant  display  of  fireworks,  duplicated  in  the 
depths  of  the  quiet  lake.  The  party  broke  up  at 
various  hours  between  ten  and  twelve.  Such  an 
entertainment  does  not  come  to  a set  and  sudden 
end  like  a military  manoeuvre  or  a mechanical 


JAPANESE  JINKS. 


217 


movement.  It  gradually  fades  into  cessation. 
You  feel  when  you  have  reached  home  that  the 
voices  of  the  merry  guests  and  the  musical 
laughter  of  the  geisha  must  still  be  ringing  in 
reality,  as  they  are  in  your  recollection.’'  ^ 

Nine-tenths  of  the  amusements  of  the  Japanese 
centre  round  the  tea-house  or  chaya.  There  are 
hundreds  of  these  in  Tokyo,  ranging  from  the 
commonest  eating-house  to  the  Japanese  Del- 
monico’s,  and  a dozen  or  so  of  reputation  and 
fashion  patronised  by  the  men  about  town.  Let 
us  place  ourselves  in  the  shoes  of  one  of  these 
when  he  has  either  finished  his  dinner  at  about 
seven  o’clock  or  proposes  to  take  it  abroad.  He 
has  his  favourite  tea-house,  we  will  say  the  well- 
l^nown  one  called  for  no  conceivable  reason 
Hamanoya — “ the  house  of  the  beach  ” — or  Bai- 
rin  — “the  plum  grove”  — in  the  Shimbashi 
quarter,  half-a-mile  from  the  railway  station. 
It  is  in  a narrow  lane,  with  nothing  outside  to 
guide  you  except  a sign  on  a paper  lamp  an- 
nouncing that  cooked  food  may  be  had  within. 
No  sooner  do  you  slide  back  the  outside  door 
and  enter  than  three  or  four  female  figures  appear 
in  the  dim  light  and  welcome  you  with  a chorus 
^ Japan  Mail.,  July  28,  1888. 


2i8  the  real  japan. 

of  Komban-wa — “Good  evening-,”  and  Shibarakti 
— “ What  a long  time  since  you  have  been  here !” 
if  you  are  an  habitue.  You  doff  your  shoes, 
mount  upon  the  raised  floor,  and  one  of  the 
figures,  which  turns  out  upon  closer  acquaintance 
to  be  a buxom  little  hand-maiden  in  a cotton 
gown,  lights  a paper  candle-lamp  upon  a long 
bamboo  stem,  leads  you  to  one  of  the  rooms 
of  the  house  and  places  square  leather  cushions 
for  you.  The  “honourable  mistress”  of  the 
house — Okamisan — probably  appears  for  a few 
minutes  ; you  exchange  compliments  with  her, 
and  Cotton  Gown  (this  has  become  a proper 
name,  to  distinguish  them  from  the  silk  gowns 
you  will  see  later)  reappears  with  tea,  cakes, 
and  the  inevitable  tobacco  brazier.  Then  she 
seats  herself  upon  her  heels,  smiles  wisely  and 
prettily  upon  you  and  awaits  your  orders.  She 
knows,  of  course,  that  you  did  not  come  to  a 
tea-house  to  enjoy  your  own  company,  and  the 
only  question  is — though  this  one  also  she  could 
probably  answer  for  you  beforehand — whom  will 
you  summon  ? 

Hereby  hangs  the  story  of  the  geisha— thdit 
most  characteristic  and  curious  product  of  Japan- 
ese social  life — and  it  must  be  told  before  we  can 


JAPANESE  JINKS. 


219 


proceed.  For  parents  who  wish  to  make  money 
out  of  their  daughters  there  is  a way  less  degrad- 
ing and  hopeless  than  to  condemn  them  to  the 
Yoshiwara — a way  which  if  slightly  less  profitable 
to  the  parents  offers  an  infinitely  more  inde- 
pendent goal  to  the  child.  They  can  apprentice 
her  to  somebody  as  a singing  girl  or  geisha  (pro- 
nounced gdy-shah).  The  mortgagee — to  use  the 
handiest  term — pays  a small  sum,  usually  from 
twenty  to  fifty  dollars,  takes  the  girl  when  she 
is  fourteen  or  fifteen,  has  her  carefully  instructed 
in  the  arts  of  dancing  and  playing  upon  the 
saniisen,  provides  her  with  beautiful  clothes,  and 
as  soon  as  she  is  proficient  in  dancing,  she 
assumes  a poetical  name  — “Miss  Pine,”  or 
“ Miss  Little  Snow,”  or  “ Miss  Spring  Flower” — 
and  he  lets  her  out  at  so  much  an  hour  to  amuse 
the  guests  at  a tea-house  or  a private  party, 
where  she  adds  the  functions  of  waitress.  She 
is  virtually  at  his  disposal  for  a term  of  years, 
so  far  as  all  her  movements  are  concerned,  and 
the  master  or  mistress  takes  the  lion’s  share  of 
her  earnings.  Her  affahxs  de  cceur  are  left  theo- 
retically in  her  own  hands.  While  she  is  still 
but  a child  she  is  called  han-gyoku  (“  half-jewel  ” 
— the  pay  of  these  girls  is  poetically  called  their 


220 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


“jewel,”  and  the  present  they  get,  a hanu  or 
“ flower  ”),  or  o-shaku  (“the  cup  filler”),  or  simply 
maiko  dancing  child  ”),  and  goes  out  to  dance 
in  company  with  older  girls  who  play  for  her ; 
by  the  time  she  is  sixteen  or  seventeen  she  is  a 
full-fledged  geisha  (literally  “ artiste  ”)  and  re- 
sponds alone  to  any  summons  to  dance,  to  play, 
to  wait,  or  simply  to  talk  and  be  chaffed  and 
flirted  with,  and  generally  to  make  the  leaden  hours 
fly  for  lazy  and  tired  men  or  curious  scribblers. 
If  she  is  clever  and  good-tempered  and  full  of 
fun — above  all,  of  course,  if  she  is  beautiful — 
she  soon  acquires  a metropolitan  reputation,  the 
young  bloods  of  Tokyo  like  to  be  chaffed  about 
her,  her  engagement  list  is  full  for  days  before- 
hand, you  can  only  get  a sight  of  her  by  a casual 
summons  for  an  hour  or  so  ; diamonds  appear 
on  her  fingers  and  pearls  in  her  hair  ; she  grows 
high-spirited ; strange  opal-like  light  flashes  at 
times  in  her  dark  eyes,  and  then  some  day  she 
suddenly  disappears.  You  are  invited  to  a rich 
Japanese  dinner-party — she  is  not  there;  you 
inquire  of  your  friends  about  her — nobody  has 
seen  her;  at  last  when  you  have  vainly  summoned 
her  a dozen  times  to  a tea-house  you  are  told  Mo 
hikikomi  ni  narimashta  — “She  has  retired” — 


“She  has  Retired.” 


JAPANESE  JINKS. 


223 


and  you  know  that  she  has  reached  the  highest  goal 
of  geisha  s ambition — some  man  has  fallen  in 
love  with  her  so  much  that  he  cannot  bear  her  even 
to  play  a part  in  the  amusements  of  other  men,  and 
therefore  he  has  “bought  her  out,” — dedecorum pre- 
tiosus  emptor — that  is,  he  has  paid  a sufficient  sum 
of  money  to  induce  her  master  to  resign  all  claims 
upon  her,  and  has  taken  her  away  to  his  own 
place.  Probably  he  has  paid  from  five  hundred 
to  a thousand  dollars  for  the  precarious  privi- 
lege. A case  came  within  my  own  knowledge 
in  Tokyo  in  which  a thousand  dollars  in  hard 
cash  was  declined  with  a smile  for  a girl  for  whom 
twenty-five  dollars  had  originally  been  paid,  and 
who  had  been  earning  for  her  master  over  a 
hundred  dollars  a month  for  some  time.  But  the 
bargain  concluded  and  the  honeymoon  over,  has 
the  happy  lover  any  bond  upon  his  mistress  1 
None  whatever,  except  her  gratitude  and  affec- 
tion. And  will  that  bond  hold  1 Not  always,  I 
fear.  It  must  often  happen,  of  course,  that  the 
excitement  and  varied  triumphs  of  a successful 
geishas  career,  render  the  comparatively  dull 
pleasures  of  home  unbearable  to  her.  Often, 
indeed,  this  supposed  incapacity  to  reconcile  her- 
self to  a quiet  life  is  laid  to  her  charge,  but  in 


14 


224 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


truth  it  is  not  unfrequently  the  man  s heart  that 
plays  truant  first,  and  it  is  the  man  s fickleness 
she  prettily  and  touchingly  veils  in  the  song  that 
she  is  most  likely  to  sing  you  to  her  samisen, 
comparing  herself  to  the  yanagi,  or  weeping 
willow,  and  which  may  be  roughly  rendered — 

“ Wave,  willow,  high  and  low, 

Back  and  forth,  and  to  and  fro  ; 

So  the  geisha's  heart  must  go, 

^ Where’er  the  breeze  of  love  may  blow.” 

As  for  the  fickle  ones,  a geisha  once  con- 
fided to  me  that  she  was  about  to  be  made 
thus  independent  by  a devoted  lover,  and 
added — not  knowing  that  I was  but  a pilgrim 
of  the  quill  with  no  abiding  habitation  where 
geisha  is  the  local  name  of  the  universal  being 
whose  promises  so  many  ages  of  experience  have 
not  taught  men  to  distrust — “ But  I shall  be  back 
again  in  a few  months,  for  Fm  sure  I shall  not  be 
able  to  bear  such  a dull  life,  and  then  you’ll  send 
for  me  again  sometimes,  won’t  you  ? ” For  to  be 
in  demand,  of  course,  is  the  geishas  professional 
pride.  When  she  returns  to  her  career  after  such 
an  episode  she  enters  upon  business  for  her  own 
profit  and  is  mistress  of  her  own  actions. 

Now  the  question  at  the  tea-house  was,  whom 


JAPANESE  JINKS. 


225 


shall  we  send  for  ? and  Cotton  Gown  sits  patiently- 
awaiting  an  answer.  There  is  Miss  Tomoye,  tall 
and  handsome  and  mercenary  and  mendacious  ; 
Miss  Kocho,  a quaint  little  person  with  a funny 
face  and  a quick  wit,'  a magnificent  samisen 
player  ; Miss  Koyuki — “ Little  Snow  ” — a beau- 
tiful girl  with  a sweet  face  and  soft  dark  eyes  (the 
eyes,  by  the  way,  that  provoked  the  philological 
efforts  described  above)  and  a sad  history ; Miss 
Mansuke,  tiny  and  solemn  and  very  pretty  and 
an  excellent  dancer  ; and  finally  “Miss  Fate” — 
well  named,  for  she  is  of  the  kind  that  play 
Fate’s  tricks  with  men.  Her  slenderness  causes 
her  to  seem  taller  than  she  is  ; when  she  moves 
it  is  like  the  flowing  of  water  or  the  waving  of 
leaves  ; her  complexion  is  like  olives  ; her  eyes 
are  as  a pool  hidden  in  autumn  woods ; her 
hands  and  feet  are  such  as  exist  nowhere  but  in 
Japan,  and  in  her  the  winning  wiles  of  a woman 
are  grafted  on  the  artlessness  of  a child.  She, 
too,  has  since  disappeared.  But  on  this  occasion 
we  ape  the  Turk  and  tell  Cotton  Gown  to 
summon  them  all — Mina  kakete  kure — and  she 
runs  away. 

At  her  bidding  downstairs  a messenger  speeds 
to  a’ very  curious  neighbourhood — what,  may  be 


226 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


called  Geisha  Street.  It  is  a long  lane,  so  narrow 
that  the  inhabitants  could  touch  hands  across  it, 
filled  on  both  sides  with  tiny  little  one-storey 
houses,  before  each  of  which  hangs  a corpulent 
paper  lantern  with  a name  and  a few  poetical 
characters  upon  it,  v^^hile  from  within  comes 
ceaseless  merry  laughter  and  the  twang  of  the 
samisen.  Here  the  geisha  live,  and  every  after- 
noon about  four  there  is  a string  of  them  in  loose 
cotton  wrappers  of  gay  patterns  going  to  and 
from  the  bath-house.  Soon  afterwards  the 
messengers  begin  to  arrive,  like  Porsena's,  from 
east  and  west  and  south  and  north,  and  a little 
later,  in  trios — geisha  and  maid  and  samisen- 
bearer — the  little  residents  clatter  away  upon 
their  clogs  in  all  directions. 

We  have  waited  perhaps  ten  minutes  sipping 
our  tea  when  there  is  a flip-flap  of  bare  feet  upon 
the  polished  stairs,  and  then — 

“ In  comes  Nick,  to  play  us  a trick, 

In  guise  of  a damsel  passing  fair.” 

She  twines  herself  round  the  corner,  and  at  the 
threshold  falls  upon  her  hands  and  knees  and  , 
bows  her  head  to  the  floor  in  salutation  of  each 
of  us.  No  matter  how  well  you  may  be  acquainted 


“Miss  Fate.” 


{A  Japanese  Photograph.) 


JAPANESE  JINKS. 


229 


with  her,  she  never  omits  this  humble  ceremony. 
Then  she  seats  herself  among  us,  pulls  a little 
silver  and  bamboo  pipe  and  brocade  pouch  from 
the  massive  silk  obi  which  serves  her  as  corset 
and  tournure  and  pocket,  and  enjoys  a whiff  of 
the  strawy-coloured  tobacco  of  the  country.  The 
rest  arrive  one  by  one,  and  soon  the  conversation 
is  merry  and  the  jokes  fly  fast.  The^m/^^2:  makes 
up  for  lack  of  education  by  ready  wit,  perfect 
manners,  and  a multitude  of  little  clevernesses — 
games  with  the  hands  and  fingers,  games  of  forfeits, 
tricks  with  pieces  of  paper  and  bits  of  string, 
de  mots,  besides  her  stock-in-trade  of  songs  senti- 
mental and  songs  scandalous,  and  dances  solemn 
and  dances  comic.  It  is  her  business  to  entertain 
you,  and  she  generally  manages  to  do  it,  even 
though  her  own  heart  is  often  heavy  enough.  At 
a tea-house  the  fun  is  not  often  furious,  the  space 
is  too  confined  and  the  neighbours  too  numerous, 
but  when  a dinner  is  given  you  at  the  private 
house  of  some  rich  man,  where  the  sakd  bowl 
circulates  freely  and  there  are  large  rooms  and 
gardens  and  arbours  and  ponds  and  boats,  then 
the  perhaps  two  score  guests  and  geisha  all  give 
themselves  up  to  the  most  boisterous  and  whole- 
hearted fun — 


230 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


A TUNE  ON  THE  MOON-FIDDLE. 

chiefly  posturing,  with  especial  attention  to  the 
management  of  the  fan.  We  ask  our  visitors  to 
dance  for  us,  and  one  of  them  sends  for  her 
saihise7i — a three-stringed  banjo  with  a long  neck 
and  small  square  head,  played  with  an  ivory' 
plectrum — and  tunes  it  with  much  unpleasant 


“ — the  joy  of  frolicking,  rollicking. 

Doings  indulged  in  by  one  and  by  all ; 

All  sorts  of  revelry. 

All  sorts  of  devilry, 

All  play  at  High  Jinks  and  keep  up  the  ball ! ” 

Japanese  dancing  as  performed  by  the  geisha  is 


JAPANESE  /INKS. 


231 


twanging.  If  she  sings,  her  song  is  unsympa- 
thetic to  Western  ears ; the  voice  is  a nasal 
falsetto,  pitched  high  even  for  that,  and  the 
method  of  producing  it  is  so  incorrect  that  a 
prolonged  effort  sometimes  brings  tears  into  the 
eyes  of  the  performer.  The  music  of  the 
samisen,  however,  though  odd  and  unintelligible 
at  first,  grows  upon  one,  and  for  my  own  part 
I enjoy  it  now.  An  ordinary  samisen,  another 
smaller  samisen,  the  violin  of  Japan,  played  with 
a bow,  and  a koto — a kind  of  thirteen-stringed 
elongated  harp  in  which  the  bridges  are  moved 
up  and  down  to  vary  the  key  during  the  perform- 
ance of  a piece — usually  constitute  a Japanese 
orchestra.  The  dancer  interweaves  her  paces 
with  but  slight  grace  to  an  eye  accustomed  to 
Legnani  and  Sozo  and  Pattie ; her  rapid  turn 
resembles  the  right-about-face  of  an  orderly 
rather  than  the  stepless  twine  of  the  coryphee. 
The  steps  are  all  made  upon  the  flat  of  the  foot, 
the  toes  not  being  used  more  than  in  walking. 
Nor  in  such  dancing  as  one  sees  at  a tea-house 
are  there  any  movements  of  great  strength  and 
agility  combined  with  perfect  grace,  such  as 
constitute  so  large  a part  of  the  art  of  ballet- 
dancing with  us.  Even  the  modest  satit  de  chat 


232  THE  REAL  JAPAN. 

is  conspicuous  by  its  absence,  and  still  more  of 
course  anything  like  the  arabesque  or  the  ronde  de 
jambes,  which  would  be  as  impossible  in  Japanese 
costume  as  they  would  be  foreign  to  the  spirit  of 
the  Japanese  art.  Still,  in  the  undulations  of  the 
body,  the  serpentine  movements  of  hands  and 
arms,  and  above  all  in  their  complete  pantomimic 
skill,  the  Japanese  danseuses  have  resources 
beyond  any  of  the  kind  I have  seen  elsewhere. 
Among  strictly  professional  dancers,  too,  marvel- 
lous agility  is  constantly  exercised,  and  I took  an 
instantaneous  photograph  of  one  of  them,  a girl 
in  the  huge  stiff  unwieldly  trousers  of  the  old- 
fashioned  style  of  dancing,  which  shows  her  a 
couple  of  feet  off  the  ground.  There  is  a sort 
of  club-house  in  Tokyo  called  the  Koyokan,  or 
“ Red  Maple-leaf  Club,”  where  the  Tokyo  Press 
Association,  comprising  the  leading  metropolitan 
journalists  of  all  shades  of  politics  meets  socially 
once  a month,  and  there  on  the  occasion  when  I 
had  the  honour  of  being  entertained  by  my  fellow- 
journalists,  a number  of  Kyoto  dancers  performed 
after  dinner  a series  of  old  dances  for  us,  exhibiting 
besides  the  characteristic  Japanese  charm,  terpsi- 
chorean  ability  which  would  be  applauded  any- 
where. But  I am  here  speaking  only  of  the 
dancing  of  the  geisha. 


JAPANESE  JINKS, 


233 


There  is  another  kind  of  dancing  in  Japan, 
which,  to  my  great  regret,  I failed  to  see.  A 
poetical  composition  of  the  strictest  rhetorical 
model  is  sung  by  one  performer  to  the  accompani- 
ment of  an  instrument  or  a small  orchestra  and 
“ danced  ” synchronously  by  another.  Here  is  a 
famous  specimen  of  this  remarkable  union  of  two 
arts.  It  is  entitled  Kazashi  no  Kiku — “ The 
Chrysanthemum  Hair-Ornament  ” — composed  by 
Takazaki  Seifu,  danced  by  Ichikawa  Danjuro, 
the  famous  actor.  Captain  Brinkley  has  kindly 
translated  it  for  me.  As  I have  not  seen  the 
dancing  I must  leave  the  fashion  of  it  to  my 
readers’  imaginations. 

“ O charm  against  old  age,  flower  of  the  chrysanthemum  ! 
Thou  that  deckest  the  tresses  of  happy  autumn ; 

Vainly  they  bloom  and  vainly  they  wither 

The  myriad  flowers  that  open  at  the  four  seasons ; 

Brief  is  their  life  and  briefer  their  glory  ; 

But  thou  ! No  dews  bleach  thy  colour,  no  frosts  mar  thy^ 
fragrance ; 

No  chill  wind  can  harm  thee,  O strength  in  gentleness ; 
Harbourer  of  peerless  odour  and  loveliness. 

Type  of  the  heart  that  is  changeless  and  honest, 

Well  merited  love  all  ages  have  lavished  on  thee, 
Chrysanthemum,  emblem  of  our  august  Emperor ! 
Moistened  by  dews  and  dried  by  the  sunshine. 

Over  thy  mountain  dell  a thousand  seasons 
Thou  hast  seen  pass  ; till  years  coming  and  going 


234 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


Have  brought  the  prosperity  of  this  bright  era, 

Even  in  the  age  of  saints  without  parallel. 

Under  the  folds  of  the  Rising  Sun  Standard, 

Far  and  wide  the  people  lift  faces  of  happiness. 

Bathed  by  the  dews  of  Imperial  benevolence. 

Stoutly  to  guard  the  Kingly  line,  unbroken, 

That  shall  last  while  heaven  and  earth  have  existence, 
To  hold  it  above  the  shocks  of  countless  ages — 

Such  is  the  work  of  the  true  heart  and  loyal. 

Decked  in  chrysanthemums,  deep-tinted,  deep-scented, 
Blooming  with  vigour  and  glowing  with  activity. 

Glad  is  the  eternal  autumn  of  our  Sovereign, 

And  glad  are  we  in  it.” 


The  tea-house  is  closed  by  law  at  midnight, 
and  the  rule  is  generally  enforced.  As  the  hour 
approaches,  therefore,  the  party  begins  to  break 
up.  Each  geisha  receives  her  “ flower,”  that  is, 
one  or  two  dollar  notes  wrapped  in  a piece  of 
paper  without  folding  them.  Anything  that  you 
give,  by  the  way,  wrapped  in  paper,  is  a present 
under  all  circumstances,  and  no  attempt  at  con- 
cealment is  made  in  executing  the  pretty  fiction 
of  the  supposed  “ flower.”  You  pull  out  your 
purse,  extract  the  money,  say  “ May  I trouble 
you  for  a piece  of  paper,”  she  gives  you  a piece 
from  the  little  roll  which  every  Japanese  woman 
carries  in  the  front  of  her  girdle,  wrapped  around 
her  pocket-book,  and  put  to  the  most  varied 


JAPANESE  JINKS. 


235 


uses — and  you  wrap  up  your  present  and  lay  it 
on  the  ground  beside  her.  Then  you  all  make 
your  way  downstairs,  the  ladykins  sit  round  while 
you  put  on  your  boots,  and  as  you  stumble  into 
yoMX  jinrikis ha  a.  simultaneous  cry  of  Say onara 
speeds  you  homeward.  At  the  end  of  the  month 
you  receive  your  bill.  I once  paid  one  eleven 
feet  long. 

It  will  occur  to  most  people  to  wonder  what  is 
the  personal  character  of  these  entertainers  of 
others  under  such  easy  circumstances.  Are  they 
not  as  frail  as  they  are  fair  ? Many  of  them  are 
certainly  fairly  frail,  though  some  are  as  chaste 
as  snow,  and  of  those  who  are  the  mistresses  of 
some  man’s  heart  and  pocket  it  can  at  least  be 
said  of  them  that  they  possess  the  virtue  of 
perfect  faithfulness.  Poor  little  mortals,  doomed 
to  be  merry  by  profession  under  all  the  fatigues 
and  bullying  and  disappointments  of  their  trying 
life,  “ let  them  enjoy  their  little  day  ” and  pass 
away  escorted  by  the  kindly  smiles  and  tender 
memories  they  have  evoked.  Their  class  is  a 
disappearing  one,  for  when  the  Japanese  man 
has  assimilated  Western  amusements  as  well  as 
Western  learning  and  Western  law,  he  will  look 
for  his  fun  elsewhere  than  at  the  hands  and  lips 


236 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


of  these  pretty  purveyors.  His  own  proverb 
should  remind  him,  however,  that  there  is  such 
a thing  as  mending  the  horn  and  killing  the 
ox. 


♦ 


IN  RURAL  JAPAN : A RUSH  TO  A 
VOLCANO. 


IN  RURAL  JAPAN:  A RUSH  TO  A 
VOLCANO, 

QN  the  morning  of  the  i6th 
of  July,  t888,  the  appalling 
news  reached  Tokyo  that 
an  enormous  volcano  had 
exploded  somewhere  in  the  north  of  Japan,  killing 
and  wounding  a thousand  people.  Japan  is  the 
earthquake  country  of  the  world,  but  familiarity 
with  cataclysms,  as  experience  has  shown,  breeds 
anything  but  contempt,  the  moral  effect  of  them 
being  cumulative  rather  than  diminishing,  and 
this  news  was  received  with  something  like  con- 
sternation, as  possibly  foreshadowing  a general 
renascence  of  volcanic  activity.  Among  foreigners 
details  were  first  learned  at  the  legations,  to  be 
confirmed  and  amplified  next  morning  by  the 
English  and  vernacular  press.  The  outbreak 


240 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


had  occurred  in  a group  of  three  mountains,  in  a 
remote  part  of  the  interior,  forming  part  of  the 
great  volcanic  ridge  running  north  and  south 
through  the  country,  the  chief  of  them  being  Ban- 
dai-san,  situated  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Inawashiro, 
in  the  province  of  Iwashiro,  in  the  prefecture  or 
Ken  of  Fukushima,  about  two  hundred  miles 
north  of  Tokyo  and  midway  between  sea  and  sea. 
And  fuller  information  did  not  show,  as  is  usually 
the  case,  that  the  first  vague  accounts  were  greatly 
exaggerated.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  certain  that 
the  eruption  had  been  one  of  the  most  stupendous 
on  record  and  had  caused  a frightful  destruction 
of  life  and  property.  Besides  the  difficulty  of 
obtaining  accurate  information,  such  an  event  is 
among  the  very  rarest  experiences  of  life,  and  a 
party  was  hastily  formed  to  visit  the  scenes  of  the 
catastrophe.  Japan  is  the  earthquake  and  volcano 
country  of  the  world,  after  the  Philippine  Islands, 
and  it  was  of  the  greatest  possible  interest  to 
see  for  oneself  what  these  outbursts  actually  are. 
Moreover,  opportunities  for  seeing  the  conditions 
of  life  in  far-off  rural  districts  of  Japan  are  rare. 
So  we  left  at  daylight  the  next  morning,  and 
before  we  came  back  we  had  seen  things  to  dwarf 
the  most  extravagant  visions  of  a disordered 


A Classic  Dance. 


A RUSH  TO  A VOLCANO. 


243 


imagination,  the  mere  memor}^  of  which  is  enough 
to  make  the  solid  earth  seem  unreal  beneath  one’s 
feet. 

One  of  the  excellent  lines  of  railway  in 
Japan  runs  from  Ueno,  on  the  outskirts  of  Tokyo, 
nearly  due  north  for  224  miles,  passing  through 
the  province  of  Fukushima.  Nine  hours  in  the 
narrow-gauge  cars,  which  are  midway  between 
the  English  and  American  models  in  their  con- 
struction, brought  us  to  the  little  town  of 
Motomiya,  which  was  the  limit  of  the  itinerary 
we  had  been  able  to  determine  upon  before  leav- 
ing Tokyo.  Installed  for  dinner  at  a large  tea- 
house, the  hotel  of  a Japanese  village,  and  our 
boys  ” having  astonished  the  inmates  by  the 
sight  of  a foreign  repast  consisting  chiefly  of 
canned  meats  and  champagne  (it  is  absolutely 
necessary  for  most  foreigners  to  take  all  their 
food  with  them  on  an  inland  trip,  especially  over 
such  an  unbeaten  track  as  this  promised  to  be), 
we  learned  that  a ride  of  about  thirty  miles  in 
jinrikishas  over  a rather  bad  road  would  bring  us 
to  the  village  of  Inawashiro,  from  which  Bandai- 
san  could  be  reached  on  foot  or  on  horseback. 
This  would  have  been  entirely  satisfactory  except 
for  the  fact  that  to  carry  ourselves,  our  servants,  and 

15 


244 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


our  provisions,  nearly  a dozen  jinrikishas  were 
required,  and  there  was  not  one  in  the  place.  A 
halt  of  half  a day  was  therefore  forced  upon  us 
while  the  vehicles  were  procured  from  the  nearest 
town.  Tea-house  life  is  feudal  in  its  quaintness, 
but  as  unexciting  as  a Quakers’  meeting,  and 
Motomiya,  with  its  one  wide  street  and  twenty 
tributary  narrow  ones,  all  flanked  with  shops 
where  nothing  is  sold  except  the  most  inexpensive 
necessaries  of  life,  offered  neither  recreation  nor 
adventure.  Under  such  circumstances  an  English- 
man does  one  thing  the  world  over — he  plays 
whist.  Then  the  six  of  us  slept  soldier-like  side 
by  side  on  the  floor  under  three  mosquito  nets, 
and  at  six  the  next  morning  our  long  procession 
of  jinrikishas  trundled  away  towards  the  moun- 
tains. 

The  coolie  rule  is  fifteen  minutes’  rest  every  two 
hours,  and  from  six  to  eight  our  twenty  runners 
jogged  steadily  on,  their  bare  legs  and  bare  arms 
moving  with  an  almost  unvarying  rhythm,  en- 
couraging one  another  with  short  sharp  cries,  or 
passing  the  word  along  to  warn  against  a stone  or 
a hole  in  the  road.  The  men  who  are  pulling 
the  heaviest  man  always  take  the  lead,  and  as 
our  railway  magnate  weighed  something  under 


A RUSH  TO  A VOLCANO. 


245 


twenty  stone  our  pace  was  decidedly  moderate 
Still,  the  road  was  good,  the  coolies  were  fresh, 
the  morning  air  was  cool  and . bracing,  and  it  was 
just  eight  o’clock  as  we  spurted  up  a slope  and 
sharply  round  a corner  to  the  tea-house  in  the 
village  of  Iwanimura,  rather  less  than  four  ri 
from  Motomiya, — say  nine  miles  in  two  hours. 
So  far,  the  country  had  been  flat  and  uninteresting, 
the  narrow  road  stretching  monotonously  through 
a broad  extent  of  verdant  paddy-fields,  dotted 
with  men  and  women  bent  double  among  the 
heavily  manured  roots  of  the  rice-plants,  knee- 
deep  in  the  evil-smelling  mud,  half-naked  but 
sexless  in  their  unsavoury  and  unending  toil. 
At  Iwanimura,  however,  the  scene  changed.  A 
spotless  matted  floor,  two  feet  from  the  ground, 
covered  with  an  exquisitely  thatched  roof,  from 
which  great  white  bunches  of  foe  cakes  are  hang- 
ing, and  a kettle  boiling  over  a brazier  of  charcoal ; 
a long  row  of  empty  jinrikishas ; half  a dozen 
Englishmen  in  white  duck  suits  and  big  helmets 
sitting  on  the  mats  with  their  feet  on  the  road, 
passing  around  the  inevitable  flask  ; a group  of 
happy  chattering  villagers  looking  on  with  de- 
lighted curiosity  ; a score  of  half-naked  brawny 
sun-browned  coolies  sluicing  themselves  with 


246 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


water  outside  and  tea  inside  and  literally  pitching 
the  hot  snow-white  rice  into  their  mouths  ; a pretty 
girl  with  bright  brown  eyes,  a wonderfully  white 
skin,  and  jet-black  teeth,  the  sign  of  her  wife- 
hood, which  she  shows  all  the  while  in  an  un- 
broken stream  of  merry  laughter  as  she  kneels 
beside  each  in  turn  with  the  tiny  tea-cup  ; in  a 
doorway  across  the  street  a long-haired  boy — no, 
it  is  a slender  sweet-faced  girl  in  blouse  and 
trousers,  timidly  wondering  and  wondering  at 
these  sudden  visitants  from  a strange  world  ; high 
above  us  a little  gabled  house  perched  upon  an 
overhanging  rock,  half  buried  in  pines — a Nor- 
wegian transplanted  to  another  hemisphere; 

far  beyond  along  the  road  the  cloud-marred  out- 
lines of  our  mountain  destination  a few  sen  in 
payment  and  a whole  household  bowing  with 
forehead  to  the  floor-  in  a chorus  of  reiterated 
Arigato  and  Sayonara,  Thank  you  ” and  ‘‘  Good 
bye  ” ; — that  is  Iwanimura,  “ the  village  on  the 
rock,”  as  we  saw  it  for  a moment.  AIo  yoroskii, 
cry  the  coolies,  and  we  are  off. 

From  this  point  every  mile  took  us  uphill  and 
the  landscape  rapidly  became  more  broken  and 
rugged,  until  in  two  hours’  time,  when  we  ran 
into  the  village  of  Takatama  and  repeated  the 


A RUSH  TO  A VOLCANO. 


247 


process  of  rest  and  refreshment  in  another  tea- 
house under  the  shadow  of  a high  green  hill,  the 
country  resembled  the  rolling  foothills  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  except  that  instead  of  being 
bare  and  brown  it  was  covered  to  the  hill-tops 
with  brilliant  verdure.  Here  we  received  our  first 


OUR  RUNNERS  AT  THE  WELL. 


information  of  the  eruption.  A terrible  noise, 
the  people  said,  had  reached  them,  lasting  nearly 
an  hour,  and  they  had  all  deserted  the  village  and 
fled,  expecting  to  be  overwhelmed.  But  the 
noise  was  all,  and  by  and  by  they  returned.  At 


248 


-THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


Takatama  we  were  nearly  half  way  to  Inawashiro, 
and  over  the  best  part  of  the  road  we  had  come 
fifteen  miles  in  three  hours  and  a half  of  actual 
travelling.  The  mountainous  character  of  the 
country  and  its  resemblance  to  Norway  now 
became  still  'more  strongly  marked  ; in  front  and 
behind  us  a series  of  striking  and  picturesque 
views  sprang  up  ; the  little  hamlets  we  passed 
were  idyllic  in  their  situation — they  might  indeed 
have  been  placed  upon  the  stage  for  the  setting  of 
a grand  opera  without  altering  a stone  or  a tree, 
their  graceful  gables  peeping  through  willows  and 
maples,  above  which  rose  the  sloping  expanse  of 
pines  and  firs  which  covered  the  base  of  the  ascent, 
while  above  these  again  towered  the  green  moun- 
tains. Here  the  peasants  were  engaged  in  the 
culture  of  silk  ; hundreds  of  flat  mat-baskets  filled 
with  bushels  of  cocoons  lay  about  the  houses,  and 
through  every  door  we  caught  a glimpse  of  men 
and  women  reeling  the  silk  thread  upon  primitive 
wooden  spinning-wheels.  As  we  got  further 
from  the  ordinary  roads  of  travel,  too,  dress 
ceased  almost  .entirely  to  differentiate  sex  : men 
and  women,  boys  and  girls,  alike  wore  the  blouse 
and  tight  trousers  of  rough  blue  cotton.  It  would 
seem,  therefore,  that  civilization  emphasizes  sex. 


A RUSH  TO  A VOLCANO. 


249 


Given  unceasing  and  wholly  unimaginative 
labour  for  both,  and  the  sentimental  distinctions 
between  man  and  woman  are  obliterated.  “ Se- 
gregation is  asexual,”  remarked  our  professor, 
sententiously.  Another  curious  fact  that  struck 
me  was  the  apparent  great  preponderance  of  boys 
over  girls  among  the  children. 

The  road  had  now  become  very  bad  and  hilly 
and  the  coolies  laboured  along,  wiping  the  profuse 
perspiration  from  their  faces.  We  had  been  rid- 
ing for  some  time  by  the  side  of  a little  irrigating 
stream  running  fast  downhill  to  the  rice-fields. 
Soon  our  men  stopped  at  the  foot  of  a broken 
ascent  and  pointing  upwards  told  us  that  there 
was  a short  cut  for* us,  while  they  must  go  round 
by  the  road.  The  climb  was  several  hundred 
yards  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees,  by  the 
side  of  a cascade  which  poured  out  of  a round 
hole  a few  yards  from  the  top.  When  we  reached 
the  top  we  found  that  this  was  fed  from  an 
irrigating  canal  four  or  five  miles  long,  from 
Lake  Inawashiro,  excellently  built  and  bridged 
with  stone  and  provided  with  admirable  modern 
sluice-gates.  That  the  remote  parts  of  the  country 
should  thus  contain  public  works  of  first-class 
engineering  reflects  great  credit  on  the  Japanese 


250 


THE  REAL  JAPAN, 


authorities.  Long  before  our  vehicles  overtook 
us,  the  rain,  which  is  constant  among  these  hills, 
burst  upon  us,  and  in  a few  minutes  we  were  wet 
to  the  skin  and  our  pith  helmets  were  as  heavy 
as  the  iron  pot-hat  of  a mediaeval  pikeman.  To 
ride  in  such  a state  would  have  been  to  woo  a too 
willing  rheumatism,  so  we  simply  shut  our  um- 
brellas and  trudged  it  for  five  miles  more  to  the 
next  halting-place,  the  village  of  Yamagata,  on  the 
shore  of  Lake  Inawashiro.  We  reached  the  tea- 
house there,  soaked  and  reeking,  with  our  jinriki- 
shas  trailing  behind,  soon  after  noon,  having 
covered  altogether  about  twenty- two  miles  in  six 
hours.  In  five  minutes  we  had  stripped  and 
donned  the  Japanese  yukata,  or  loose  dressing- 
gown,  and  a very  odd-looking  party  we  were  as 
we  squatted  round  in  these  flowing  cotton  robes, 
all  too  short  for  long  European  legs,  while  our 
coolies,  naked  but  for  a single  loin-cloth,  roared 
with  good-natured  laughter  at  the  colossal  propor- 
tions of  the  member  of  our  party  with  whom  the 
two  unlucky  ones  among  them  had  led  the  way. 
There,  as  we  sat  at  tiffin,  the  broad  lake  stretched 
out  before  us,  completely  hemmed  in  by  green  hills 
mirrored  deep  in  its  clear  water  ; the  dark  group 
around  Bandai-san  lowered  now  more  distinctly 


A RUSH  TO  A VOLCANO. 


251 


iri  sight  to  our  right  ; and  an  obliging  Japanese 
official,  already  on  his  way  back  from  the  scene, 
drew  plan  after  plan  of  the  catastrophe  for  us 
with  his  pen  and  little  box  of  water  colours  as 
deftly  and  rapidly  as  only  a Japanese  can.  At 
four  o’clock  we  left  him  with  his  tea  and  telescope, 
and  pushed  on  round  the  lake,  over  a road  so  bad 
that  it  was  constantly  necessary  to  walk,  until  at 
last  it  degenerated  into  a mere  path  among  the 
narrow  paddy-fields.  A deserted  village,  Tsubo- 
oroshi,  literally  “ the  place  for  putting  down  the 
pots,”  showed  the  remaining  effects  of  panic. 
The  inhabitants  had  fled,  the  little  shops  were 
closed,  the  amado,  or  outside  rain-doors,  were  slid 
in  front  of  all  the  houses,  and  the  place  was 
silent  and  forlorn  as  though  a pestilence  had 
descended  upon  it.  In  the  midst  of  the  next 
half-deserted  village  an  official  from  Inawashiro, 
our  destination,  was  waiting  for  us,  hat  in  hand. 
His  Excellency  Count  Ito,  President  of  the  Privy 
Council,  had  shown  me  the  distinguished  courtesy 
of  causing  an  official  letter  to  be  sent  to  the  Ken- 
rei  or  Governor  of  the  Prefecture,  requesting  him 
to  afford  me  any  assistance  or  hospitality.  Con- 
sequently on  reaching  Inawashiro  at  last,  at  the 
farther  end  of  the  lake,  we  found  that  accom- 


252  THE  REAL  JAPAN. 

modation,  not  palatial  perhaps,  as  the  village  is 
a small  and  poor  one,  but  much  the  best  to  be 
had,  was  provided  for  us  at  the  house  of  Mr. 
Matsui  Ginzaburo,  the  rich  man  of  the  place,  who 
kept  what  we  should  call  at  home  a general 
provision  and  crockery  store.  Our  first  impulse 
was  toward  a bath,  and  while  appreciating  to  the 
full  our  host’s  very  hospitable  intentions,  I must 
say  that  all  the  forty  smells  of  Cologne  compressed 
into  one  quintessential  abomination,  would  rank 
with  the  perfumes  of  Araby  in  comparison  with 
the  paralyzing  putrefaction  which  penetrated  into 
his  family  bath-room  from  heaven  knows  where. 
For  my  part,  after  the  first  deadly  experience, 
during  the  three  days  that  we  spent  under  his 
roof,  I remained  unbathed.  But  the  principal 
thing  was  that  we  had  arrived,  and  that  we  could 
lie  down  side  by  side  to  sleep  in  the  black  shadow 
of  death-dealing  Bandai. 

During  the  night  strange  and  many -legged 
insects — “ as  big  as  a young  trout,  bedad,”  said 
our  Irish  companion — roamed  around  our  beds, 
and  the  morning  was  marred  by  the  discovery 
that  our  coolies  had  taken  advantage  of  the  pay- 
ment of  a small  sum  in  advance  to  drown  their 
fatigue  in  sake  and  that  they  were  all  drunk  but 


A RUSH  TO  A VOLCANO. 


253 


two  or  three.  This  meant  an  extra  walk  of  five 
miles  for  us  to  the  base  of  the  mountain  by  way 
of  preparation  for  the  days  climb.  Then  the 
sober  ones  struck,  on  learning  that  I had  promised 
one  of  them  an  additional  half-dollar  if  he  took 
great  care  in  carrying  my  camera.  At  last,  how- 
ever, we  started,  coolies,  provisions,  cameras  and 
all,  led  by  tv/o  guides  that  the  local  police  had 
kindly  procured  for  us.  The  village  of  Inawa- 
shiro  is  situated  at  the  base  of  the  volcano 
opposite  to  that  on  which  the  violence  of  the 
eruption  expended  itself,  and  therefore  it  escaped 
injury.  It  was  up  this  uninjured  side  of  the 
mountain  that  we  proposed  to  ascend,  and  for  the 
first  five  miles  our  road  was  smooth  and  shaded, 
leading  us  through  pleasant  ascents  and  between 
cultivated  fields.  Then  we  struck  off  into  the 
short  green  scrub,  and  three  miles  of  this,  along  a 
narrow  track  used  by  the  peasants  when  cutting 
fodder  for  their  horses,  brought  us  to  the  beginning 
of  the  ascent  proper,  where  we  called  the  first  halt 
and  reunited  our  scattered  party,  some  of  whom 
had  found  an  elevated  and  not  very  safe  transport 
on  the  top  of  a huge  straw  pack-saddle  on  the 
back  of  a half-broken  country  stallion.  The  climb 
now  became  really  fatiguing  ; it  was  so  steep  that 


254 


THE  REAL  fAPAN. 


an  alpenstock  was  almost  necessary  and  occa- 
sionally hands  had  to  come  to  the  rescue  of  feet ; 
the  path  wound  in  and  out  round  trees  and  over 
torrents  and  stones  ; recent  rains  had  made  it 
slippery  with  mud,  and  all  the  while  a tropical 
sun  was  beating  straight  down  upon  our  heads. 
For  an  hour  and  a half,  too,  there  were  no  more 
signs  of  a volcano  than  there  are  in  Kent  or  the 
Catskills  ; then  suddenly  our  leaders  stopped 
short.  We  looked  about  us  ; there  was  a smell 
of  sulphur  in  the  air  ; the  leaves  at  our  side  were 
coated  with  impalpable  grey  ashes  ; and  there 
within  a few  steps  was  a small  crater  twenty  feet 
wide,  a conical  hole  blown  out  as  though  a hundred 
pound  shell  had  exploded  underground.  The  first 
burst  had  of  course  exhausted  the  slight  volcanic 
energy  at  this  point  and  the  bottom  of  the  crater- 
kin  was  entirely  closed.  Curiously  enough,  too, 
the  explosion  had  been  in  a lateral  direction,  trees 
and  shrubs  having  been  blown  away,  and  those 
left  half  buried  in  mud,  while  a fine  tree  directly 
overhead  was  not  only  uninjured  but  not  even 
bespattered.  It  was  only  a small  affair,  but  it 
was  our  first  sight  of  the  actual  operation  of  the 
volcanic  forces  of  nature,  the  most  mysterious  and 
dreadful  forces  that  man  knows,  and,  a thrill  ran 


A.  RUSH  TO  A VOLGA  HO. 


255 


through'  us  as  we  stood  around  the  mud  hole. 
Then  we  resumed  our  climb,  and  half  a mile  more 
brought  us  to  the  midst  of  the  volcanic  activity. 
In  every  direction  were  crater-like  holes  of  dif- 
ferent sizes  ; the  trees  had  been  twisted  off  and 
split  and  buried  and  hurled  about  ; five  or  six 
inches  of  sticky  grey  mud  covered  everything ; 
we  sank  ankle-deep  in  it  at  every  step,  and  every 
now  and  then  as  we  still  climbed,  one  of  the  party 
would  struggle  back  as  he  found  himself  sinking 
deeper,  and  shout  a warning  to  the  rest  to  avoid 
the  dangerous  spot.  Pools  of  dark  yellow 
sulphurous  water,  small  lakes,  some  of  them,  had 
been  formed  wherever  the  soil  was  flat  enough 
for  water  to  rest,  and  of  all  the  bright  turf  and 
foliage  which  had  beautified  the  spot  a few  days 
before,  not  a single  .blade  or  square  inch  of  green 
was  left.  It  would  be  impossible — so,  at  least, 
we  thought  then — to  imagine  a completer  picture 
of  utter  desolation  than  this  grey  and  stinking 
wilderness,  all  the  more  terrible  that  the  form  of 
landscape  was  vaguely  preserved  in  it,  just  as  a 
mutilated  corpse  is  the  more  horrible  because  it 
cannot  mask  entirely  the  graciousness  of  the  living 
body.  Silently  and  laboriously,  panting  and 
perspiring,  we  plod  upwards,  watching  every 


256 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


.heavy  step.  We  are  in  single  file,  a guide  lead- 
ing, and  I am  third  in  the  line.  Surely  we  cannot 
get  much  higher,  for  the  mountain  seems  to  end 
abruptly  just  above  us.  The  guide  is  on  the  top, 
the  man  behind  him  struggles  up,  seeking  a place 
for  his  feet.  Then  as  he  raises  his  head,  his  body 
being  half  above  the  edge,  he  stops  short  like  a 
man  shot,  and  slowly  and  in  awe-stricken  tone  the 
words  fall  from  his  lips — “ Good  God  ! ” Those 
of  us  below  shout  to  him  to  pass  on,  and  in  irre- 
sistible excitement  and  curiosity  we  scramble  up 
anyhow. 

We  found  ourselves  standing  upon  the  ragged 
edge  of  what  was  left  of  the  mountain  of  Bandai- 
san  after  two-thirds  of  it,  including  of  course  the 
summit,  had  been  literally  blown  away  and  spread 
over  the  face  of  the  country.  Or,  to  employ  the 
terminology  of  geometry,  the  original  cone  of  the 
mountain  had  been  truncated  at  an  acute  angle  to 
its  axis,  and  we  were  standing  upon  the  flattened 
apex  of  the  resulting  cone.  It  must  be  borne  in 
mind,  of  course,  that  we  had  of  necessity  ap- 
proached the  focus  of  the  eruption  from  behind, 
the  volcanic  energy  having  exerted  itself  laterally 
and  not  vertically.  From  our  very  feet  a precipi- 
tous mud  slope  falls  away  for  half  a mile  or  more 


A RUSH  TO  A VOLCANO. 


257 


till  it  reaches  the  level  ; at  our  right,  still  below 
us,  rises  a mud  wall  a mile  long,  also  sloping 
down  to  the  level,  and  behind  it  is  evidently  the 
crater,  for  great  clouds  and  gusts  of  steam  are 
pouring  over  it  ; beneath  us  on  our  left  is  a little 
table-land  of  mud  on  which  a few  pools  have 
formed.  But  before  us,  for  five  miles  in  a straight 
line,  and  on  each  side  nearly  as  far,  is  a sea  of 
congealed  mud,  broken  up  into  ripples  and  waves 
and  great  billows,  and  bearing  upon  its  bosom, 
like  monstrous  ships  becalmed  upon  the  fantastic 
ocean  of  some  cyclopean  nightmare,  a thousand 
huge  boulders  weighing  hundreds  of  tons  apiece. 
The  sunlight  is  reflected  in  weird  tints  from  the 
pools  and  lakes  ; one  larger  lake  is  all  that  is  left 
of  a river  buried  at  a blow  ; where  the  mud  has 
been  coated  with  ashes  it  is  of  a dull  grey  tint, 
elsewhere  in  spots  it  is  a dark  red  ; on  one  side 
of  this  awful  expanse,  a couple  of  miles  away  from 
us — remember  always  the  colossal  scale  of  the 
eruption  — a stretch  of  bright  green  meadows 
sparkles  in  the  sun  ; on  the  other  a dark  pine 
forest  shows  how  the  sea  of  mud  had  rolled  up  to 
its  foot  and  actually  stopped  there  almost  touching 
the  trunks  of  the  trees  ; and  straight  in  front  of  us, 
five  miles  away,  we  can  just  discern  an  exit  into  a 


258 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


long  green  valley  behind  which  again  rose  the 
mountains,  range  upon  range,  dark  and  grand 
and  solemn,  till  they  pierce  the  cloudless  skies. 

But  the  little  table-land  below  us  on  the  left — 
what  was  that  } We  knew,  but  who  shall  tell  its 
tale?  It  marked  the  site  of  the  medicinal  hot 
springs  of  Shimo-no-yu,  where  a hamlet  of.  invalid 
visitors,  forty  or  more  in  number,  had  been  taking 
the  waters,  and  now  springs  and  hamlet  and 
visitors  lie  buried  under  twenty  feet  of  mud,  and 
a few  foul  puddles  form  their  only  monument  and 
epitaph.  Eight  o’clock  in  the  morning  of  a bright 
fresh  summer’s  day  ; the  little  place  busy  with  the 
guests  taking  their  first  daily  bath  ; comparing 
notes,  no  doubt,  as  invalids  do,  of  their  respective 
progress  towards  restored  health  ; the  awful  rum- 
bling of  the  earthquake  ; the  explosion,  followed 
instantly  by  the  darkness  of  death  as  the  cloud  of 
ashes  fills  the  air  ; one  scream  of  utter  terror  and 
despair,  and  ere  it  dies  away  the  fall  of  the  sea  of 
boiling  mud  ; then  everlasting  silence.  There  is 
no  reason  for  exhuming  them,  and  no  human  eye 
will  ever  look  upon  them  again  to  learn  the  details 
of  their  agony.  We  turn  away,  for  it  is  impossible 
to  watch  these  puddles  flickering  in  the  sun  and 
think  of  the  poor  souls  beneath  and  their  awful 


A RUSH  TO  A VOLCANO. 


259 


realization  of  a dies  irce — a day  of  wrath  surpass- 
ing even  theologic  horrors. 

To  find  a spot  sufficiently  free  from  mud  for  us 
to  sit  down  and  open  the  tiffin-basket,  we  had  to 
descend  a few  hundred  yards.  Then  we  returned 
to  the  same  spot  and  climbed  cautiously  over  the 
edge  and  down  the  slope,  our  object  being  to 
reach  the  top  of  the  mud-wall  I have  described 
as  being  on  our  right,  and  from  behind  which  the 
steam  was  rising  from  the  crater  itself.  The  mud 
was  in  great  cakes  and  boulders,  resting  upon  the 
great  mass  of  it  beneath — exactly,  in  fact,  like  a 
choppy  sea  suddenly  solidified.  The  walking, 
therefore,  or  rather  scrambling,  was  difficult,  and 
the  surface  of  the  mud  treacherous.  By  chance 
when  we  had  descended  far  enough  in  a straight 
line  and  turned  off  to  the  right  to  climb  to  the 
wall  of  the  crater,  two  of  us  happened  to  be  in 
advance  of  the  rest.  Slowly  and  cautiously  we 
approached  the  edge,  testing  the  masses  of  mud 
before  us  at  every  step.  At  last,  side  by  side 
and  on  our  hands  and  knees,  we  looked  over. 
The  mud  wall  upon  the  edge  of  which  we  stood, 
sank  straight  down  out  of  sight  into  the  depths  of 
the  abyss  and  actually  shelved  in  underneath  us, 
so  that  we  were  suspended  over  the  seething 

16 


26o 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


crater  upon  no  support  stronger  than  overhanging 
mud,  neither  solid  nor  tenacious.  Needless  to  say 
that  after  a single  brief  look  we  beat  a gingerly 
but  hasty  retreat.  And  none  too  soon,  for  there 
between  us  and  the  rest  of  the  part}^  was  a long 


AT  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  PRECIPICE. 


crack  several  inches  wide.  But  that  minute’s  look 
will  never  be  forgotten  by  either  of  us.  For  a 
thousand  feet  the  mud  precipice  rose  straight  up 
to  our  feet  ; the  crater  from  which  it  sprang  was 
probably  a mile  wide  ; from  a dozen  half-visible 


A RUSH  TO  A VOLCANO. 


261 


openings  the  steam  was  issuing  with  the  noise  of 
a distant  waterfall,  while  the  chief  orifice  of  the 
crater  was  altogether  hidden  by  the  cloud  of 
steam  above  it ; and  whenever  the  vapour  was 
dissipated  for  a moment  we  could  see  the  liquid 
mud  at  the  bottom,  apparently  still  seething  in 
great  disturbance  and  commotion.  The  colossal 
scale  of  it  all,  the  more  than  Alpine  precipice,  the 
ocean  of  mud,  the  buried  village,  the  heat,  the 
steam,  the  noise,  the  attempt  to  picture  in  imagi- 
nation the  scene  when  the  earth  has  been  thus 
burst  and  riven  and  scattered  and  convulsed,  and 
the  solid  land  had  melted  and  flowed  out  as  the 
sea, — all  these  combined  to  produce  an  impres- 
sion of  awe  and,  stupefaction  which  nothing 
subsequent  can  ever  efface  and  with  which,  no 
previous  experiences  of  life  afford  the  slightest 
comparison. 

We  were  the  first  foreigners  to  make  thus  a 
rough  but  fairly  complete  examination  of  the 
scene  of  the  eruption,  and  when  we  started  for  our 
long  walk  home  later  in  the  afternoon  we  were  in 
a position  to  say  with  some  confidence  just  what 
had  happened.  The  main  facts  of  the  eruption 
are  these  : At  the  point  of  the  manifestation  of 
volcanic  activity  the  mountain  range  consists  of 


262 


THE  REAL  JAPAN, 


three  peaks  which  are  often  spoken  of  together  as 
Bandai-san,  but  consist  properly  of  Bandai-san, 
5,800  feet,  a somewhat  smaller  mountain  known 
as  Sho-Bandai-san,  and  a third  one  larger  again, 
called  Nekomatadake.  The  eruption  had  taken 
place  in  the  smaller  central  one  of  the  three,  and 
Sho-Bandai-san  has  disappeared  from  the  face  of 
the  earth.  The  explosion  was  caused  by  steam, 
there  was  neither  fire  nor  lava  of  any  kind — it  was 
in  fact  neither  more  nor  less  than  a colossal  boiler- 
explosion.  The  whole  top  and  one  side  of  Sho- 
Bandai-san  had  been  blown  into  the  air  in  a lateral 
direction,  and  the  earth  of  the  mountain  was  con- 
verted by  the  escaping  steam  at  the  moment  of 
the  explosion  into  boiling  mud,  part  of  which  was 
projected  into  the  air  to  fall  a long  distance  and 
then  take  the  form  of  an  overflowing  river,  and 
part  of  which  rushed  down  with  inconceivable 
speed  and  resistless  force  and  poured  over  the 
face  of  the  country  to  a depth  varying  from 
twenty  to  a hundred  and  fifty  feet.  Thirty 
square  miles  of  country  were  thus  devastated  and 
practically  buried  by  this  eruption,  a fact  which 
places  it,  as  I said,  among  the  stupendous  on 
record. 

Early  next  morning  our  coolies,  who  had  spent 


A RUSH  TO  A VOLCANO. 


263 


all  the  money  advanced  to  them  and  therefore 
relapsed  of  necessity  into  a state  of  sobriety,  ran 
with  us  several  miles  to  the  vilWe  of  Mine,  on 
the  edge  of  the  mud  sea,  exactly  at  the  opposite 
end  of  the  volcanic  energy  to  that  we  had  visited 
the  day  before.  Indeed,  so  exactly  was  the 
boundary  of  the  flow  marked,  that  the  first  thing 
we  saw  on  alighting  from  our  jinrikishas  was  a 
house  unroofed  by  the  hurricane,  up  to  the  wall 
of  which  the  sea  had  flowed  and  stopped.  The 
wall  was  bent  but  not  overthrown,  whereas  if  the 
momentum  had  not  ceased  precisely  at  that  spot, 
the  whole  house  would  have  ofone  down  like  a 
piece  of  paper  in  the  track  of  an  express  train. 
We  were  now  at  the  edge  of  the  congealed  sea 
whose  source  we  had  previously  explored,  and  its 
solid  billows,  strewn  with  the  monstrous  boulders, 
stretched  out  before  us  as  far  as  we  could  see. 
Over  them  we  clambered  to  a spot  a few  yards 
further  on,  where  a force  of  men  were  digging 
around  the  roof  of  an  imbedded  house  to  secure 
the  bodies  of  three  of  their  friends  whom  they 
knew  to  be  within.  Just  beyond  this  lay  one  of 
the  smaller  specimens  of  the  boulders  I have 
described.  T asked  some  of  the  men  to  go  and 
stand  near  while  I photographed  it,  in  order  to 


264 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


afford  an  idea  of  its  size,  and  in  a moment  a score 
of  them  had  climbed  on  it  and  stood  on  the  top. 
Yet  among  the  rocks  that  had  been  shot  down 
like  hailstones  there  were  some  ten  times  as  biof 
as  this.  Of  our  day’s  tramp  over  the  mud  it  is 
unnecessary  to  speak  in  detail.  • By  and  by  we 
had  reached  a height  from  which  we  could  see 
several  hundred  men  and  women  digging  hard  on 
the  outskirts  of  a half-destroyed  village.  At  first 
we  thought  they  were  searching  for  bodies,  but 
afterwards  we  discovered  that  they  had  neither 
time  nor  inclination — nor  was  there  indeed  any 
need — for  this,  and  that  they  were  working  sa 
hard  to  save  their  rice-fields.  Without  water 
they  would  be  ruined  in  a day  or  two,  and  the 
loss  of  these  would  mean  starvation  and  ruin  ta 
them.  The  river  Nagase,  upon  which  they  were 
dependent  for  water,  had  been  buried,  and  they 
were  making  a trench  to  some  small  lakes  newly- 
formed  by  the  eruption.  Later  on  we  learned 
that  several  fights  had  occurred  for  these  miser- 
able water-supplies  between  the  inhabitants  of 
different  villages  and  that  each  set  a guard  night 
and  day  over  its  own  desperate  attempts  at  irri- 
gation. Could  anything  be  more  pathetic  than 
the  spectacle  of  these  poor  wretches,  barely 


Afier  the  Karitk^uake. 


"I 


‘4 

• Q 


A JiUSH  TO  A VOLCANO. 


267 


escaped  from  the  jaws  of  a horrible  death  by 
being  buried  alive,  taking  one  another  by  the 
throat  to  save  themselves  from  starvation  ? 

Two  hours’  steady  walking  brought  us  to  our 
goal  in  the  little  village  of  Nagasaka,  where 
occurred  the  most  heartrending  scene  of  all  that 
we  can  ever  know  anything  of.  Ninety  lives 
were  lost  here,  and  from  three  of  the  half-dozen 
survivors,  by  name  Watanabe  Fusahei,  Wata- 
nabe  Seikichi,  and  Watanabe  Buhachi,  I gathered 
piecemeal  the  following  personal  narrative  of  the 
catastrophe. 

A few  minutes  past  eight  o’clock  in  the  morning 
there  was  suddenly  the  most  awful  noise.  Then  in 
a minute,  “before  a man  could  run  a cho''  (a  cho 
is  120  yards),  “darkness  darker  than  midnight, 
and  blinding  hot  ashes  and  sand,  as  you  see  them 
here  on  the  roofs,”  fell  upon  them.  And  with 
the  noise  came  an  earthquake  so  terrible  that 
many  of  them  were  thrown  to  the  ground  and 
crawled  on  all-fours  like  animals,  while  the  earth 
undulated  like  the  surface  of  the  sea.  Explosion 
after  explosion  came  in  rapid  succession,  the  last 
one  being  the  greatest,  and  indeed  so  great  and 
appalling  that  after  that,  they  all  said,  they  could 
not  pretend  to  remember  or  think  what  happened 


268 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


or  what  was  the  sequence  of  events.  So  much  is 
certain,  however,  that  all  who  could  move  quickly 
left  their  houses  instantly  and  ran  for  their  lives 
across  the  village,  to  ford  the  shallow  stream  fifty 
yards  wide  and  seek  refuge  on  the  slope  of  the 
hill  opposite.  Not  a single  soul  of  these  escaped. 
And  here,  to  my  thinking,  is  the  most  appalling 
fact  of  all.  Bandai-san  is  4 ri  or  10  miles  from 
Nagasaka,  as  the  crow  flies.  Half  of  the  moun- 
tain side  which  was  blown  up  was  shot  into  the 
air,  and  impinged  upon  the  ground  a ri  and  a 
half,  or  nearly  four  miles  away,  and  from  that 
point  it  flowed  along  in  the  stream  which  over- 
whelmed these  people.  But  the  furthest  of  them 
was  not  two  hundred  yards  from  the  remotest 
part  of  the  village.  Supposing,  now,  that  because 
of  the  darkness  and  confusion  and  terror  it  took 
the  swiftest  of  them,  running  for  his  life,  five 
minutes  to  cover  200  yards — an  ample  allowance 
— it  follows  that  the  mud-stream  must  have  passed 
six  miles  through  the  air  and  four  miles  along  the 
ground  in  less  than  five  minutes.  That  is,  millions 
of  tons  of  tenacious  boiling  mud  were  hurled  over 
the  doomed  country  at  the  rate  of  two  riiiles  a 
minute,  or  double  the  speed  of  the  fastest  express 
train  ! The  thought  paralyzes  one’s  imagination. 


{An  histantaneoKS  holograph.) 


A RUSH  TO  A VOLCANO. 


271 


As  I have  said,  of  the  ninety  people  who  ran, 
men,  women,  and  children,  all  perished  ; the  only 
survivors  were  a few  old  people  too  infirm  to  run, 
and  one  man,  Yabe  Sankichi,  who  had  gone  over 
to  the  hill  opposite  to  cut  fodder  and  was  already 
half  way  up  when  the  eruption  occurred.  Wata- 
nabe  Fusahei,  an  old  man,  was  in  a house  with 
his  son  aged  32,  and  his  son’s  child  aged  six.  He 
begged  them  to  run  and  save  themselves  and  leave 
him  to  his  fate  : they  ran  and  were  engulfed,  he 
stayed  and  was  saved.  Many  more  thrilling 
stories  are  told  by  survivors  at  other  places. 
One  woman  was  running  with  her  child  on  her 
back  when  a red  hot  stone  Hew  by  and  smashed 
the  child.  In  her  terror  she  did  not  notice  it, 
however,  and  ran  into  a neighbour’s  house  with 
her  red  burden  upon  her  back.  Another  was 
fleeing  and  dragging  a child  by  the  hand  when  a 
boulder  struck  the  child  and  tore  it  away,  leaving 
the  arm  from  the  shoulder.  And  the  mother  was 
found  afterwards  alive  still  clutching  the  dead 
hand  of  her  child.  But  it  is  useless  to  repeat 
such  horrors.  One  man  only  could  have  described 
the  whole  scene  to  us,  but  he  had  disappeared. 
This  was  a peasant  who  was  cutting  grass  upon  a 
mountain  opposite  when  he  heard  the  noise  and 


272 


THE  ' REAL  JAPAN. 


saw  the  ground  before  him  begin  to  bob  up  and 
down.  But  he  had  met  a fox  that  morninof  and 
now  knew  that  he  had  been  bewitched  by  it — a 
common  superstition  of  the  Japanese  peasant — 
and  that  he  must  above  all  things  keep  cool.  So 
he  seated  himself  upon  a stone,  took  out  his  pipe 
and  watched  the  whole  eruption  with  perfect 
equanimity,  knowing  it  to  be  only  a subjective 
phenomenon  ! When  it  was  all  over,  this  wily 
kitsune-tsuki  — the  fox-bewitched  — resumed  his 
work,  well  pleased  to  have  outwitted  the  evil  one. 
His  narrative,  if  we  could  have  found  him,  would 
have  been  interesting.  The  aspect  of  Nagasaka 
was  extraordinary.  As  the  mud  stream  had 
passed  it  by,  the  houses  and  their  contents,  even 
to  the  food  in  the  pots,  were  uninjured,  except  a 
few  that  were  flooded  by  the  deflected  stream, 
but  there  was  not  a soul  to  live  in  them  or  claim 
them.  A force  of  police  was  occupying  the  village 
and  their  red  and  white  flag  floated  above  the  roof 
of  the  principal  house,  but  it  was  a delicate  task  to 
instal  the  homeless  refugees  from  other  villages 
there. 

Two  more  sights  remained  for  us,  one  of  pity, 
one  of  horror.  The  police  officer  who  had  joined 
us  at  Nagasaka  led  the  way  across  country  to  a 


A RUSH  TO  A VOLCANO. 


273 


secluded  little  valley  where,  in  a lonely  graveyard 
under  the  shadow  of  the  mountains,  all  the  dis- 
covered victims  lay  at  last  in  decent  rest.  Only 
twenty-nine  there  were,  in  sixteen  graves,  each  an 
oblong  heap  of  stones  from  a stream  near  by,  with 
narrow  head-board  and  monotonous  inscription 
such  as,  “No.  i.  Two  men,  one  woman.  Faces 
unrecognized.”  From  the  graveyard  the  officer 
led  us  back  to  the  mud,  and  a few  hundred  yards 
further  on  our  last  sight  awaited  us.  As  we 
drew  near  a crow  liew  off  croaking  hoarsely.  By 
the  subsidence  of  the  mud  another  body  had  been 
disclosed,  and  lay  at  our  feet  still  half  imbedded. 
It  was  a man,  parboiled  and  of  the  colour  of 
mahogany,  the  arms  and  legs  twisted  in  dreadful 
convulsions,  the  skull  crushed  in,  the  eyes  starting, 
and  the  mouth  gaping  six  inches  wide,  partly  no 
doubt  because  of  death  by  suffocation  and  partly 
by  the  expansion  of  the  gases  of  decomposition. 
That  black  face,  like  some  fiendish  grotesque, 
haunts  me  as  I write,  and  it  filled  our  cup  of 
horrors  to  the  brim.  We  had  seen  more  than 
enough. 

Late  that  afternoon  we  started  on  our  home- 
ward journey,  to  get  as  far  as  possible  in  the  cool 
night  air.  As  we  emerged  into  the  path  between 


274 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


the  rice-fields  our  runners  stopped  for  a moment, 
and  we  all  instinctively  turned  and  looked  back 
for  a last  glimpse  of  the  place  where  in  one 
dreadful  moment  a country-side  of  happy  homes 
and  fertile  fields  and  pleasant  meadows  and  green 
woods  had  been  changed  into  a grey  and  blasted 
wilderness.  What  we  saw  was  the  whole  sky 
behind  us  flooded  by  a gorgeous  sunset,  and  old 
Bandai  wreathing  himself  with  a halo  of  crimson 
and  gold  as  though  he  were  gloating  over  his 
work. 


XL 

THE  YOSHIWARA  : AN  UNWRITTEN 
CHAPTER  OE  JAPANESE  LIEE. 


N 


XI. 

THE  YOSHIWARA:  AN  UNWRITTEN 
CHAPTER  OF  JAPANESE  LIFE. 

^HERE  is  a place  in 
Japan  which  every  male 
tourist  visits  to  gaze  on  its 
outside ; a place  that  con- 
tains probably  the  most  re- 
markable attempt  ever  made 
to  solve  the  great  problem 
of  human  society  ; yet  a 
place  entirely  unknown  to 
the  Western  world,  for  nobody  has  ventured  to 
make  in  print  more  than  an  airy  passing  allu- 
sion to  it.  No  foreigner,  indeed,  has  ever  been 
in  a position  to  write  seriously  of  this  place  from 
his  own  knowledge,  for  the  police  authorities 
tell  me  that  I am  the  first  to  whom  oppor- 
tunities for  thorough  investigation  have  ^ been 
afforded.  I hesitated  of  course  a good  deal. 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


278 

before  sitting  down  to  write  of  it,  but  I long  ago 
concluded  not  to  make  one  of  the  conspirators  of 
silence  upon  all  matters  of  the  sexual  relations  of 
men  and  women — themselves  not  a little  re- 
sponsible for  the  continuance  of  the  evils  they 
deplore.  I have  therefore  tried  to  write  simply 
and  without  impropriety  of  what  I have  seen 
and  learned  of  this  remarkable  and  secret 
place.  ^ 

On  the  furthest  north-w'estern  outskirts  of 
Tokyo,  an  hour’s  ride  in  a jinrikisha  from 
anywhere,  there  is  a large  colony  apart.  You 
enter  it  through  a wide  gate,  on  one  side  of  which 
is  a large  weeping  willow — “ The  Willow  of 
Welcome”  in  Japanese — and  on  the  other  side 
a post  of  police.  The  streets  inside  are  long  and 
wide,  shops  and  tea-houses  alternating  ; down  the 

^ I sent  a proof  of  this  chapter  to  the  friend  whose  taste  I 
esteem  most  highly  of  all  the  people  I know,  with  the  simple 
question,  “Shall  it  be  included  in  my  book,  or  not?’'  This 
was  the  reply  I received,  word  for  word : “ Certainly,  it  must 
go  in — it  can  offend  no  one  whose  opinion  is  worth  a bootlace. 
It  is  clean  and  simple,  and  of  course  it  is  interesting.  Nothing 
in  this  world  can  keep  the  great  problem  of  sexual  relations 
out  of  literature  to-day  and  in  the  future.  It  must  and  will 
go  in ; everybody  will  talk  and  write  of  it — let  us  hope,  with 
a great  decency — and  some  fine  day  a ray  of  light  may  strike 
a bewildered  wallowing  world.” 


THE  YOSHIWARA, 


279 

middle  is  a beautiful  flower-garden,  six  feet  across, 
where-  a succession  of  flowers  in  full  bloom  is 
maintained  among  pleasant  fountains  and  quaint 
stone  lanterns.  An  eagle  marvellously  constructed 
of  shreds  of  bamboo  is  sitting  upon  a tree  stump, 
and  half  a dozen  wax  figures  of  men  and  women, 
startlingly  life-like,  are  plucking  the  flowers  and 
strolling  by  the  fountains.  One  man  has  trodden 
upon  a toad  and  is  springing  back  in  disgust,  his 
foot  drawn  up  almost  to  his  waist.  A lady  has 
stopped  before  a little  brook  and  stands  with  her 
gown  gathered  up,  hesitating  to  cross,  when  a 
coolie — a Japanese  Sir  Walter  Raleigh — runs  up 
and  spreads  his  coat  on  the  mud  before  her. 
These  are  the  wax- works,  and  all  day  long  a 
crowd  of  real  people,  not  a bit  more  real  looking, 
gaze  on  them  with  delight,  or  with  Japanese 
tenderness  and  simplicity  of  feeling  find  perfect 
pleasure  in  admiring  the  flowers  and  the  butter- 
flies. From  the  eaves  of  the  bamboo-peaked  roof 
hang  two  rows  of  brilliant  red  lanterns,  and  from 
the  shops  and  tea-houses  at  the  side  hang  two 
more  rows.  So  in  daytime  four  long  lines  of  red 
are  waving  in  the  wind,  and  at  night  four  streams 
of  dancing  scarlet — appropriate  colour! — make  the 
darkness  gay.  At  the  end  of  the  principal  street 

17 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


280 

is  a large  and  handsome  building  surmounted  by 
a clock-tower  dominating  the  entire  colony.  And 
when  you  have  walked  for  a quarter  of  a mile 
under  the  lanterns  and  beside  the  flowers  you 
find  not  only  one  but  a dozen  such  buildings, 
massive  structures  of  stone  and  brick  with  pillared 
verandas  and  lofty  vaulted  entrances  through  which 
you  get  a glimpse  of  great  stairways  and  columns 
of  polished  wood,  with  cool  green  gardens  ex- 
tending temptingly  beyond.  There  are  no  finer 
• buildings  in  Tokyo  than  these,  and  they  have 
cost  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars.  They 
bear  no  sign  or  mark  outside  to  indicate  their 
•purpose,  though  if  you  look  up  in  passing  you 
„will  probably  see  a graceful  figure  or  two  in 
bright  ’ gowns  strolling  upon  the  balcony,  or  a 
pair  of  black  eyes  will  look  curiously  down  upon 
-you,  or  perhaps  you  may  catch  sight  of  a graceful 
_head^  with  monumental  coiffu7'e  resting  upon  a 
••tiny  hand  and 'bare  arm.  This  is  the  Yoshiwara 
as  you  may  see  it  any  day.  What  is  it,  however, 

. if  you  can  look  behind  the  flowers  and  the  lan- 
terns, and  read  the  unwritten  story,  of  .these  silent 
palaces  ? 

The  word  “ Yoshiwara  ” means  literally  “ The 
Plain  of  Reeds,”  and  so  long  ago  as  the  reign  of 


A Kashi  Zashiki 


THE  YOSHIWARA. 


283 


the  Shogun  lyemitsu  in  1659  favourite 

quarter  of  the  city  for  the  residence  of  the  cour- 
tesan class.  the  Restoration,  however,  twenty 
years  ago,  the  authorities  determined  to  suppress 
houses  of  prostitution  in  the  City  of  Tokyo 
proper,  and  to  confine  them  to  this  part.  Now 
the  word  “Yoshiwara”  has  become  the  generic 
name  for  the  quarter  inhabited  by  the  Japanese 
demi-monde  in  any  town.  There  are  no  fewer 
than  six  of  them  in  Tokyo  alone,  but  the  Shin- 
Yoshiwara,  or  new  one,  which  I am  describing, 
is  the  chief  and  most  remarkable.  This  step  of 
segregation  was  taken  for  several  reasons.  In 
the  first  place,  it  seemed  to  the  authorities  that 
public  morals  would  gain  by  the  removal  of  the 
licensed  houses,  or  kashi-zashiki,  from  all  the 
respectable  quarters  ; then  the  system  of  regular 
medical  inspection  which  they  were  determined 
to  enforce  would  be  easier  and  more  certain  ; 
the  tax  upon  each  member  of  the  demi-monde 
could  be  better  collected ; the  whole  system, 
which  is  regulated  by  very  intricate  laws  enforced 
theoretically  with  great  strictness,  would  be  much 
more  under  police  control ; and  last  but  not  least 
in  weight,  such  a quarter  would  be  a happy  hunt- 
ing  ground  for  the  secret  police,  as  a successful 


284 


THE  REAL  JAPAN, 


swindler  or  a hiding  thief  would  be  pretty  sure  to 
turn  up  there,  and  any  conspiracy  against  law 
and  order  would  be  likely  to  be  discussed  there. 
“ Where  the  carcase  is,”  argued  the  authorities, 
“ there  also  will  the  eagles  be  gathered  together,” 
and  the  keepers  of  the  kashi-zashiki  have  too 
much  to  gain  and  too  much  to  lose  not  to  help  the 
police  secretly  by  every  means — and  there  must 
be  a million — in  their  power.  So  there  is  a special 
branch  of  Yoshiwara  Police. 

To  understand  the  peculiar  Japanese  point  of 
view  in  this  matter,  we  must  go  back  to  the 
Department  of  Police.  There,  as  I said  in  my 
previous  chapter,  is  a special  Bureau  of  Prostitution 
(included  in  the  Bureau  of  Trade)  with  a dozen 
busy  functionaries,  and  there,  too,  I was  per- 
mitted as  a special  favour  to  be  present  at  the 
enrolment  of  recruits.  In  a small  room  on  the 
ofround-floor  sat  two  officials  behind  desks  on  a 

o 

raised  platform.  Opposite  them  were  sliding 
doors  in  the  wall,  and  as  these  were  opened  from 
outside  by  a policeman  three  persons  entered,  the 
girl  applying  to  become  a licensed  sJiogi,  her 
parent  or  guardian,  and  the  keeper  of  a kashi 
zashiki.  They  all  make  very  low  bows  and 
remain  in  an  attitude  of  the  greatest  respect. 


THE  YOSHIWARA, 


285 

The  girl  is  questioned,  she  replies  automatically 
with  downcast  eyes  ; the  parent  is  questioned,  he 
replies  apologetically,  with  many  explanations ; 
the  keeper  is  questioned,  he  replies  profusely, 
with  practised  fluency.  There  is  a good  deal  of 
talk,  and  the  official  makes  many  entries  in  an 
elaborately  ruled  ledger  before  him.  Then  the 
three  retire,  in  a moment  the  sliding-doors  open 
again  to  admit  another  trio,  and  so  on  without 
variation,  without  emotion,  formally  and  relent- 
lessly the  stream  of  victims  is  rolled  on.  I 
could  not  help  being  reminded  of  the  automatic 
pig-killing  at  the  stock-yards  of  Chicago.  Some 
of  the  girls  are  no  longer  young,  but  coarse  in. 
person  and  brazen  in  manner.  Others  are  deli- 
cate and  pretty  and  very  frightened.  Some  look 
little  more  than  children,  bewildered.  The 
parents  are  quite  commonplace  people,  and  the 
bawds  are  like  their  fellows  the  world  over, 
smuof  scoundrels.  The  averagre  number  of 

o o 

applications,  many  of  them  refused,  is  about  ten 
daily. 

The  whole  system  is  based  upon  the  theory  of 
a civil  contract.  When  a girl  is  forced  by  her 
parents  or  desires  of  her  own  will  to  become  a 
yujo  or  “ lady  of  pleasure,”  the  keeper  of  a kashi- 


286 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


zashiki  is  immediately  ready  to  advance  to  the 
parents  a certain  sum  of  money,  say  twenty 
dollars,  or  fifty,  or  in  very  exceptional  cases 
perhaps  a hundred.  The  girl,  her  parents,  and 
a surety  thereupon  enter  into  a bond  for  her  to 
become  an  inmate  of  his  house  under  the  ordinary 
conditions  for  three  years,  or  until  the  proportion 
of  her  earnings  which  goes  to  the  keeper  (theo- 
retically one-half)  is  sufficient  to  recoup  him  for 
the  sum  advanced,  together  with  his  outlay  for 
her  clothes  and  board.  Should  she  wish  to  leave 
before  his  complete  reimbursement  she  must  re- 
fund all  the  money  advanced  or  expended  for  her 
up  to  that  time.  If  she  runs  away,  the  keeper 
recovers  possession  of  her  by  a civil  action  for 
debt  against  her  parents  and  surety — a sort  of 
parody  of  the  gruesome  action  for  restitution  of 
conjugal  rights,  at  last,  happily,  discredited 
among  ourselves.  But  she  can  escape  alto- 
gether by  getting  beyond  her  parents’  reach 
and  leaving^  them  to  settle  the  debt.  When 
her  time  has  expired,  if  the  refunding  process 
is  complete,  she  is  at  liberty  to  leave  or  to 
re-engage  herself  for  another  term.  If  it  is  not 
complete,  she  has  no  choice.  And  it  requires 
no  knowledge  of  the  methods  of  the  trade  to 


CEO.  THOMSON  from  PHfiTO  BY  HEN RY  NORMAN 


THE  YOSHIWARA. 


289 


guess  that  there  will  always  be  a balance  of  in- 
debtedness on  the  girl’s  part.  Therefore  she 
stays  and  stays.  She  is  not  allowed  to  go  outside 
the  Yoshiwara  without  a kaiisatsu  or  local  police 
pass,  and  even  then  she , would  probably  be 
accompanied  by  her  maid  and  a male  attendant. 
The  examination  takes  place  officially  'every 
Monday  morning  at  the  police  station,  the  upper 
floor  of  which  is  converted  into  a sort  of  surgery 
{Kensajo)  for  the  purpose,  and  any  shogi  found 
diseased  is  immediately  conducted  by  a policeman 
to  a special  hospital  for  such  cases.  As  in  Eng- 
land, the  ordinary  hospitals  will  not  receive  them. 
This  hospital  is  supposed  to  be  supported  by  the 
associated  keepers,  but  as  a matter  of  fact  they  in 
turn  levy  a regular  tax  upon  all  their  shogi  for 
the  purpose.  No  girl  under  16  is  allowed  to 
enter  upon  the  life,  and  the  papers  attesting  her 
age  must  be  signed  by  the  officer  of  the  ward  in 
which  she  resides.  All  the  circumstances  of  each 
case,  the  names  of  the  parents,  the  reasons  why 
they  give  their  consent,  the  name  of  the  keeper 
and  the  details  of  the  contract,  are  scrupulously 
and  fully  entered  in  the  official  ledger  of  the 
Department  of  Police,  and  the  authorities  and 
the  law  have  set  up  every  possible  theoretical 


290 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


safeguard  between  the  yujo  and  the  keeper,  and 
I believe  that  these  laws  are  enforced  to  the  letter 
whenever  need  arises.  But  also,  it  goes  without 
saying  that  no  Solomon  could  devise  theoretical 
safeguards  which  would  practically  protect  a girl 
under  such  circumstances  from  unscrupulous 
greed.  For  instance,  every  person  in  Japan  has 
a private  seal  corresponding  to  a signature  with 
us,  with  which  all  documents  even  down  to 
private  letters  are  attested,  and  to  counterfeit  or 
reproduce  such  a seal  is  forgery.  Now  the 
keeper  of  every  kashi-zashiki  is  compelled  by  law 
to  keep  a big  ledger  in  which  all  money  transac- 
tions between  himself  and  the  shogi  are  entered, 
and  the  shogi  is  compelled  to  keep  a similar 
smaller  book  in  which  the  keeper  makes  identical 
entries,  each  of  which  must  be  attested  by  her 
private  seal.  This  book  is  regularly  inspected  by 
the  police  with  a view  to  prevent  extortion,  and 
it  is  expressly  forbidden  by  law  for  the  keeper  to 
take  away  the  girl’s  seal.  On  one  occasion  I 
visited  the  largest  and  best  kashi-zashiki  in  the 
Yoshiwara  in  company  with  my  official  inter- 
preter. The  keeper  was  a sharp-looking  woman 
of  fifty,  who  had  45  shogi  in  her  house,  which 
she  had  just  built  at  a cost  of  45,000  dollars. 


THE  YOSHIWARA. 


291 


We  were  taking  tea  ceremoniously  in  her  private 
apartments,  and  after  awhile  I inquired  if  I 
might  put  a special  question  to  her.  “ Certainly,” 
she  replied.  “Any  question?”  “Certainly.” 
“ Then,”  I said  to  the  old  lady  through  my 
official  interpreter,  “ will  you  be  so  kind  as  to 
show  me  some  of  the  seals  belonging  to  your 
ladies,  that  you  have  at  this  moment  in  your 
possession.”  She  winced  visibly  and  turned 
several  colours,  but  after  a minute  got  up 
without  a word,  trotted  off,  and  returned  im- 
mediately with  the  private  seal  of  a certain  Miss 
Man,  and  I took  an  impression  of  it  in  my  note- 
book, to  her  evident  great  alarm.  This  meant, 
of  course,  that  she  was  in  the  habit  of  entering 
the  accounts  in  all  the  books,  attesting  them 
herself  with  the  seals  of  all  her  yujo,  and  thus 
the  police  would  be  shown  an  immaculate 
record,  while  the  shogi  themselves  would 
never  even  see  the  books,  or  know  with  how 
much  they  were  debited  and  credited  from  week 
to  week.  It  is  very  unusual,  by  the  way,  for  one 
of  these  great  houses  to  be  owned  by  the  keeper ; 
such  profitable  property  is  generally  owned  in 
Japan  as  elsewhere  by  highly  respectable  capi- 
talists who  are  never  heard  of.  And  profitable 


2Q2 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


indeed  it  must  be,  for  the  market  value  of  land 
inside  the  Yoshiwara  as  compared  with  the 
general  average  in  Tokyo  is  as  four  to  one.  In 
this  Yoshiwara  there  are  loo  kashi-zashiki  and 

about  1,850 
.S'  h og  i.  The 
Government 
tax  upon  each 
house  is  3 dol- 
lars a month, 
and  upon  each 
courtesan  from 
half  a dollar  to 
3 dollars  a 
month,  accord- 
ing to  her  class. 

There  are 
four  classes  or 
grades  in  the 
occupation,  the 
renumeration  of 
each  being  pre- 
scribed by  law.  As  everywhere  else,  the  position  is 
polyonomous,  oirmi  being  the  politest  name,  sJiogi 
the  most  frequent,  joro  the  most  accurate  and 
severe,  and  yujo — “ file  de  joie  ” — the  prettiest. 


THE  YOSHIWARA. 


29J 

Each  has  her  own  servant  and  her  own  apart- 
ment, often  charmingly  decorated  with  paintings 
and  screens,  and  adorned  with  little  carvings  and 
porcelain  and  bits  of  old  silver-work  and  lacquer, 
the  gifts  of  various  admirers.  And  there  is 
nearly  always  a large  written  and  framed  scroll 
in  a conspicuous  position,  exhibiting  some  scrap 
of  appropriate  poetry  tersely  told  in  the  com- 
plicated Chinese  characters.  One  I was  shown 
had  the  four  characters  matsu  kiku  nao  sonsUy 
literally,  “ Pine  chrysanthemum  still  are,”  i.e.,  the 
pine  and  the  chrysanthemum  always  preserve 
their  charm,  even  in  winter  when  other  flowers 
die,  and  by  implication,  My  charms  are  ever- 
lasting, like  the  pine  and  the  chrysanthemum.” 
There  are  some  pleasing  beliefs  current  among 
foreigners,  and  which  have  been  circulated  in 
several  recent  books  on  Japan,  to  the  effect 
that  it  is  a common  act  of  filial  devotion  for  a 
girl  to  volunteer  unasked  to  devote  herself  to 
this  life  for  a term  of  years  in  order  to  pay  her 
parents’  debts,  to  extricate  them  from  some  other 
embarrassment,  or  even  to  lay  by  a little  money 
for  herself ; and  that  this  done,  she  returns  to 
the  bosom  of  her  family  as  if  nothing  had 
happened,  indeed  with  the  added  halo  of  filial 


294 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


piety.  This  is  mostly  unmitigated  rubbish. 

Many  girls,”  says  Major  Knollys,  R.A.,  for 
instance,  “ devote  themselves  to  three  or  four 
years’  immorality  of  set  purpose,  amass  comfort- 
able little  sums  of  money,  are  warriily  welcomed 
back  into  the  domestic  circle,  and  are  regarded 
as  models  of  filial  duty  in  having  thus  toiled  for 
the  support  of  their  parents.  In  fact,  the  land- 
marks between  virtue  and  vice  are  obliterated.” 
This  is  a grotesque  misstatement.  What  Major 
Knollys’s  sources  of  information  during  his  few 
days  in  Tokyo  may  have  been,  I do  not  know, 
but  I made  searching  inquiries  on  this  point  in 
all  quarters  and  from  all  sorts  of  people,  from 
the  high  officers  of  the  Department  of  Police 
down  to  the  yujo  themselves,  and  I have  no 
hesitation  in  characterizing  the  statement  as 
preposterous.  It  is  true  that  the  majority  of 
the  eirls  who  enter  the  Yoshiwara  are  there  that 
their  parents  may  have  money  in  consequence ; 
but  there  is  not  one  case  in  hundreds  where 
they  are  not  unwilling  and  unhappy  victims. 
The  influence  of  Confucianism  has  been  to 
implant  the  duty  of  filial  obedience  as  the  primal 
and  imperative  virtue  among  the  lower  classes 
of  Japan.  A daughter  yields  absolute  unques- 


THE  YOSHIWARA. 


295 


tioning  obedience  to  her  parents  under  all  cir- 
cumstances. Therefore  when  they  say  to  her, 
“You  will  marry  So-and-so,”  she  does  not  dream 
of  objecting.  No  more  does  she  when  they  say 
to  her,  “You  must  enter  the  Yoshiwara.”  Of 
course  when  she  is  asked  at  the  Department 
of  Police,  “ Do  you  take  this  step  of  your  own 
free  will  ? ” she  replies,  “ I do,”  but  the  case  is 
parallel  to  the  condemned  criminal  who  walks 
up  the  steps  of  the  gallows  of  his  own  free 
will. 

As  for  the  notion  that  the  life  of  a courtesan 
is  not  considered  by  the  Japanese  to  involve  any 
particular  discredit  or  disgrace,  that  is  almost 
equally  silly.  The  reason  that  such  a life  here 
is  regarded  differently  from  a similar  life  in  other 
countries  is  simply  that  it  is  different — with  just 
the  difference  between  a person  who  becomes 
immoral  under  compulsion  and  one  who  is 
immoral  from  choice.  The  Japanese  have  their 
own  view  of  all  sexual  matters,  including  this 
one.  Iroke  to  kasake  no,  they  quote  philoso- 
phically, nai  monowa  nai.  And  courtesanship 
among  themselves  they  estimate  at  precisely  its 
true  value.  An  ineffaceable  stain  and  an  irre- 
deemable lowering  of  personal  dignity  they 


296 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


know  it  to  be,  but  they  know  also  that  there 
are  not  a few  cases  in  which  it  leaves  the  moral 
character  untouched.  The  biography  of  a famous 
and  beautiful  oiran  named  Murasaki  says  of  her, 
“ She  defiled  her  body,  but  not  her  heart,”  and 
describes  her  tenderly  and  prettily  as  deichiu 
no  hasu — “a  lotus  in  the  mud.”  Consequently 
many  an  oiran,  understanding  this,  looks  forward 
to  a respectable  marriage  with  a man  whose 
acquaintance  she  has  made  in  the  Yoshiwara, 
and  a few  of  them  are  thus  fortunate  every  year, 
though  perhaps  not  a larger  proportion  than  in 
other  countries.  And  as  for  returnino^  to  their 
families,  it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  they 
never  do.  What  they  think  of  their  own  calling 
may  be  judged  from , the  fact  that  when  a 
eirl  leaves  her  kashi-zashiki  to  be  married  or  to 
make  any  attempt  to  live  differently,  nothing  would 
induce  her  to  take  with  her  a scrap  of  the  clothing 
she  has  worn  there,' an  article  of  the  furniture  of 
her  room,  or  even  one  of  her  knick-knacks  from 
it,  although  she  has  paid  for  them  all  ten  times 
over.  She  would  regard  their  presence  elsewhere 
as  a constant  reproach  and  shame,  so  she  leaves 
them  for  the  keeper  to  sell  at  ten  times  their  value 
to  the  next  comer.  “ When  she  leaves,”  I say, 


THE  YOSHIWARA. 


297 


but  does  she  often  leave  ? I fear  that  the  female 
footprints  by  the  “Willow  of  the  Welcome”  nearly 
all  point  one  way.  “ What  are  the  chief  deter- 
mining causes  that  recruit  the  ranks  of  ^^yujo  ? ” 
I asked  my  informants  at  the  Department  of  Police. 
“ There  only  two,”  was  the  reply  ; “ poverty  and 
natural  inclination.”  “ But  putting  sentiment  and 
theoretical  legal  safeguards  aside,  what  propor- 
tion of  ytcjo  ever  return  to  a respectable  life  ? ” 
‘‘Unfortunately  very  few,”  was  the  reply;  “we 
have  a proverb  in  Japanese  which  exactly  answers 
your  question,  Ichido  dor'o-midzu  ni  Iiaittara,  issho 
mi  wo  arayenai — ‘ Once  get  into  dirty  water,  and 
you  will  never  be  washed  clean  again  as  long  as 
you  live.’  ” A few  get  married  ; occasionally  one 
commits  suicide  with  her  lover  because  he  has  not 
the  means  wherewith  to  pay  her  debts  and  take 
her  away ; an  occasional  one  returns  to  inde- 
pendence and  respectability;  but  the  great  majority 
either  die  or  descend  in  the  scale  as  they  get  older 
and  uglier,  till  they  end  by  being  servants  in  the 
houses  of  which  they  were  formerly  the  orna- 
ments. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  in  so  strange  a 
community — among  these  “lotus  in  the  mud” — 
there  is  a vast  deal  of  romance,  necessarily  much 


298 


l^HE  REAL  JAPAN. 


more  than  among  the  similar  classes  of  countries 
where  vice  comes  chiefly  from  choice.  Hundreds 
of  novels  tell  the  stories  of  denizens  of  the  Yoshi- 
wara — of  their  beauty,  their  misfortunes,  their 
goodness,  their  romantic  passion  and  devotion, 
and  their  triumph  and  happiness  or  despair 
and  suicide.  Some  of  these  would  be  well  worth 
telling  if  space  permitted.  As  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
said  long  ago,  there  are  often  more  virtues 
to  be  found  in  the  harlot  class  than  in  our 
own  highly  respectable  circle,  and  I should 
imagine  this  to  be  even  truer  of  Japan  than  of 
Jerusalem. 

The  most  extraordinary  spectacle  of  the  Yoshi- 
wara  takes  place  for  a few  afternoons  at  five 
o’clock  three  times  a year,  when  the  flowers  in  the 
long  street  gardens  are  changed.  First  in  spring 
comes  the  pink  glory  of  the  cherry-blossoms  ; then 
in  summer  the  purple  of  the  iris  ; then  in  autumn 
the  hundred  colours  of  the  chrysanthemum,  the 
national  flower  of  Japan.  When  the  new  flowers 
are  planted  the  yujo  pay  them  a state  visit. 
From  each  of  the  principal  houses  half  a.  dozen 
of  the  most  beautiful  are  chosen  and  arrayed 
in  gorgeous  clothes,  their  hair  dressed  monu- 
mentally, combs  three  feet  long  stuck  in  from  side 


I HR  Visit  to  i he  Flowers  of  Yosiiiwara. 


THE  YOSHIWARA, 


301 


to  side,  and  then  they  are  mounted  upon  black 
lacquered  geta  or  pattens  a foot  high.  When 
they  are  ready  to  start  a score  of  servants  ac- 
company them  ; two  or  three  precede  them  to  put 
the  crowd  away  ; one  holds  the  hand  of  each  yttjo 
upon  either  side,  and  solemnly  and  very  slowly,  a 
step  a minute,  the  wonderful  procession  moves 
round  the  garden.  Other  processions  issue  from 
the  houses  and  meet  and  pass,  and  by  and  by  the 
whole  main  street  of  the  Yoshiwara  is  packed  with 
an  open-mouthed  crowd,  over  whose  heads  the 
faces  of  the  processionists  can  be  seen  here  and 
there. 

The  walking  upon  the  tall  heavy  is  itself  an 
accornplishment  and  girls  are  specially  trained  to 
it.  One  foot  is  put  out  a little  way  and  planted 
firmly,  then  the  other  geta  is  lifted  by  the  toes 
tightly  grasping  the  strap  which  passes  between 
the  first  and  second  toes,  and  swung  round  in  front 
of  the  other  and  across  it.  The  first  is  then  lifted 
and  placed  on  the  other  side  of  the  second — exactly 
in  fact  like  a skater  doing  the  outside  edge.  The 
Japanese  call  it  hachwionji  ni  arukti — “figure  of 
eight  walking.”  It  is  difficult  to  give  in  words  an 
adequate  notion  of  the  extraordinary  effect  of  this 
procession.  The  costly  and  gorgeous  clothes  of 

18 


302 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


the  yujo,  silks  of  marvellous  richness  and  brocades 
blazing  with  scarlet  and  gold  ; the  exaggerated 
bow  of  her  obi  tied  in  front  (the  courtesan  is  com- 
pelled by  law  to  distinguish  herself  in  this  way), 
the  pyramidal  coiffure^  the  face  as  white  as  snow, 
the  eyebrows  and  eyelashes  black,  the  lips  ver- 
milion and  even  the  toe-nails  stained  pink  ; the 
men-servants  respectfully  holding  the  tips  of  her 
fingers  on  each  side  and  giving  as  much  heed  to 
every  step  as  an  acolyte  might  give  to  an  aged 
Pope ; her  several  women-servants  walking 
solemnly  behind  ; a footman  pushing  back  the 
crowd  and  another  removing  every  twig  or  dead 
leaf  from  her  path  ; her  slow  and  painful  Iiachi- 
monji ; her  stony  gaze  straight  before  her,  half 
contemptuous  and  half  timid  ; the  dense  and 
silent  crowd  ; the  religious  aspect  of  the  vicious 
ceremony, — all  these  go  to  make  a spectacle  apart 
from  anything  one  has  ever  seen — an  event  out- 
side all  one’s  standards  of  comparison — a reminis- 
cence of  phallic  ceremonial — a persistence  of 
Priapus. 

To  complete  the  picture  of  the  Yoshiwara,  I 
must  add  that  in  the  lower-class  houses  the  in- 
mates sit  at  night  in  the  front  room  on  the  ground 
floor,  behind  wooden  bars  and  plate  glass, 


IIACH IMOXJI-NI-A  R UKU. 


if' 


V 


j 


THE  YOSHIWARA, 


305 


and  the  passers-by  examine  them  critically  at 
their  leisure,  like  goods  in  a shop  window. 
Some  of  them  are  dressed  in  what  passes  for 
European  costume  — a sight  of  indescribable 
vulgarity  and  horror.  This  exhibition  is  bar- 
barous and  offensive  in  the  extreme,  and  the 
authorities  would  be  well  advised  to  suppress  it 
immediately. 

Such  is  the  great  Yoshiwara  of  Tokyo.  This 
is  not  the  place  to  express  any  opinion  upon 
the  principles  involved ; but  as  1 have  written  so 
frankly,  it  is  only  fair  to  the  Japanese  authorities 
to  point  out  that  their  peculiar  system  has 
absolutely  eradicated  the  appearance  of  vice  in 
Tokyo  ; you  might  walk  the  streets  of  this  city  of  a 
million  people  for  a year  without  seeing  a sign  of  it 
— a state  of  things  probably  without  parallel  in  the 
civilized  world.  Then,  too,  they  have  dissociated 
it  from  riot  and  drunkenness  and  robbery  ; the 
streets  of  the  Yoshiwara  are  as  quiet  and  orderly 
as  Mayfair  or  Fifth  Avenue.  And  nobody  in 
Japan  can  fall  into  temptation  unwittingly  : he 
must  go  in  search  of  it.  That  these  are  matters 
of  some  value  at  any  rate,  the  people  who  are  re- 
sponsible for  the  police  de  mmtrs  and  Mabille,  for 
the  Strand  and  the  Hay  market,  for  the  pur- 


3o6  the  real  japan. 

lieus  of  Sixth  Avenue  and  the  hells  of  Chicago 
and  San  Francisco,  are  hardly  in  a position  to 
deny. 


XII. 


JAPAN  FOR  THE  JAPANESE  f 


XII. 


JAPAN  FOR  THE  JAPANESE  f 

There  is  one  great  question  in  Japan — one 
question  which  overshadows  for  the  moment 
every  Japanese  art,  every  phase  of  Japanese 
commerce,  every  Japanese  aspiration.  There  is 
one  point  at  which  Japan  touches  all  the  world — 
one  point  where  Japanese  statesmen  stand  face  to 
face  with  Salisbury  and  Harrison  and  von  Caprivi 
and  de  Giers  and  Carnot.  The  representatives  of 
sixteen  nations  sat  for  months  round  a table  dis- 
cussing it ; a long  secret  memorandum  reported 
upon  it  to  London,  to  Washington,  to  Paris,  to  St. 
Petersburg,  and  to  Berlin  ; merchants  of  every 
country  have  eagerly  awaited  its  solution  ; 
thoughtful  political  observers  everywhere  have 
watched  with  alternating  approval,  amusement, 
and  regret,  how  the  practice  of  the  Great  Powers 
in  a typical  case  has  accorded  with  their  familiar 
professions.  I am  speaking,  of  course,  of  the 


310 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


abolition  of  the  treaties  by  which  Japan  is  ranked 
with  semi-barbarous  races,  of  the  opening  of 
Japan  to  the  enterprise  of  the  world’s  capitalists, 
of  the  admission  of  Japan  to  the  modern  comity 
of  nations. 

The  first  foreigners  to  break  down  the  Asiatic 
isolation  of  old  Japan  were  those  most  enter- 
prising of  early  colonists,  the  Dutch,  and’  for 
many  years,  before  another  European  foot  had 
trod  Japanese  soil  the  Dutch  Resident,  according 
to  the  account  of  his  own  physician,  had  been 
accustomed  on  formal  occasions  to  crawl  in  and 
out  of  the  presence  of  the  Shogun,  and  on  in- 
formal ones  “ to  dance,  to  jump,  to  play  the 
drunkard  ” for  the  Court’s  diversion,  “ with 
numerous  other  such  apish  tricks.”  In  1854 
Commodore  Perry,  with  his  great  sagacity  and 
his  American  men-of-war,  concluded  the’  first 
treaty  on  Japanese  soil.  Other  nations  followed 
suit  rapidly.  At  last  in  1858  came  Lord  Elgin 
in  the  Fttriozis,  fresh  from  the  storming  of  Canton, 
the  occupation  of  Tientsin,  and  the  forcing  upon 
China  of  the  epoch-making  treaty  of  that  place, 
and  being  thus  able  to  fling  his  sail  to  a favouring 
breeze,  as  the  Japanese  say,  steamed  right  up  to 
the  gates  of  Tokyo  (it  was  Yedo  in  those  days) 


JAPAN  FOR  THE  JAPANESE?  31 1 

and  soon  concluded  a full  treaty  upon  his  own 
terms,  which,  to  his  credit  be  it  said,  followed 
closely  the  reasonable  and.  generous  ones  of  the 
treaty  which  Mr.  Townsend  Harris,  the  American 
diplomatist,  had  concluded  exactly  a month  before. 
By  this  document  import  duties  were  reduced 
from  35  per  cent,  to  about  20  per  cent,  ad 
valo7^ein,  and  export  duties  were  fixed  at  5 per 
cent.  With  one  exception,  this  treaty  of  Lord 
Elgin’s  of  1858  regulates  the  relations  of  Japan 
and  the  Great  Powers  at  the  present  moment,  for 
by  that  insinuating  engine  of  diplomatists,  the 
“ most  favoured  nation  ” clause,  all  the  European 
Governments  were  placed  on  the  same  footing  as 
Great  Britain.  The  exception  is  in  this  very 
matter  of  the  tariff.  Article  XIII.  of  Mr.  Harris’s 
treaty  declares  the  whole  of  it  revisable  after  the 
lapse  of  fourteen  years  and  one  year’s  notice,  upon 
the  desh'e  of  either  the  American  or  Japanese 
Governments ; and  Regulation  VII.  adds  these 
plain  words  : “ Five  years  after  the  opening  of 
Kanagawa  [Kanagawa  is  practically  Yokohama, 
the  former  name  being  still  used  only  in  diplomatic 
and  Consular  documents],  the  import  and  export 
duties  shall  be  subject  to  revision  if  the  Japanese 
Government  desires  itd  In  Lord  Elgin’s  Treaty, 


3T2 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


however,  the  corresponding  passage  in  Regulation 
VII.  reads,  '"if  either  the  B^dtish  or  Japanese 
Gove7niment  desires  itj  Thus  what  Mr.  Harris, 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  regarded  as  a 
just  privilege  or  concession  to  Japan,  in  return 
for  what  Japan  conceded  by  treaty.  Lord  Elgin 
claimed  and  secured  for  Great  Britain  as  a right. 
The  enlarged  concession  soon  bore  fruit.  British 
cannon  had  thundered  at  Kagoshima  in  1863  to 
avenge  the  murder  of  Mr.  Richardson,  and  at 
Shimonoseki  in  1865  to  open  the  Inland  Sea  (a 
hasty  proceeding  of  which  no  Englishman  can  be 
proud),  and  the  power  of  the  two  Japanese  clans, 
at  the  same  time  the  most  powerful  and  the  most 
bitterly  opposed  to  foreign  intercourse,  Satsuma 
and  Choshiu,  had  thus  been  broken  in  succession. 
And  during  the  same  period  Japan  was  devastated 
by  the  climax  of  the  struggle  between  the  Mikado, 
the  Emperor  by  right,  and  the  Shogun,  the 
Emperor  by  usurpation,  and  the  European  Powers 
had  at  last  discovered  that  making  treaties  with 
“His  Majesty  the  Tycoon”  was  like  pouring 
water  over  a frog’s  face,  and  had  insisted  that 
the  treaties  should  be  ratified  by  the  rightful 
sovereign,  who  was  at  the  time  helpless  and 
practically  a prisoner,  and  whose  friends  had  all 


JAPAN  FOR  THE  JAPANESE?  313 

they  could  do  to  keep  his  head  on  his  shoulders. 
This  was  the  moment  chosen  to  realize,  in  the 
persuasive  presence  of  a large  foreign  fleet,  the 
opportunities  afforded  by  Lord  Elgin’s  added 
words;  and  by  the  Tariff  Convention  of  1866, 
when  the  Powers  had  only  to  ask  and  have.  Great 
Britain,  represented  by  Sir  Harry  Parkes,  France^ 
the  United  States,  and  Holland,  knocked  off  75 
per  cent,  of  the  import  duties,  reducing  them  to 
5 per  cent,  in  theory  and  a little  over  3 per  cent, 
in  practice.  There  is  no  blame,  of  course,  to  be 
attached  to  the  foreign  representatives  in  this 
course  of  action.  They  had  been  naturally  irri- 
tated by  delays  and  incensed  by  outrages  against 
their  fellow-countrymen,  and  besides,  a diploma- 
tist’s business  is  to  get  as  much  and  give  as  little 
as  he  can,  and  all  moral  considerations  he  leaves 
where  the  French  general  said  he  left  his  philan- 
thropy in  war  time — in  his  wife’s  cupboard.  But 
it  is  only  just  to  the  United  States  to  add  that 
Mr.  Harris,  the  man  who  had  opened  Japan  to 
foreign  commerce,  expressed  his  great  regret  that 
the  word  “ revise  ” had  proved  in  practice  to  open 
the  door  to  an  enforced  continuation  of  the  very 
relations  between  Japan  and  the  Western  world 
which  he  had  specially  intended  it  to  limit,  and 


314  the  real  japan. 

declared  the  conditions  to  which  he  perforce 
agreed  to  be  “ against  his  conscience.”  And  if 
these  were  the  sentiments  of  a disinterested 
foreigner,  what  must  the  Japanese  themselves 
have  felt  and  feel  ? 

The  conditions  of  1858,  together  with  the  one 
made  more  severe  in  1866,  are  thus,  as  I have 
said,  the  conditions  of  1891.  They  comprise 
Consular  jurisdiction,  extra-territorial  immunities, 
the  fixing  of  export  and  import  duties  alike  at  a 
nominal  5 per  cent.,  the  prohibition  of  the  import 
of  opium  (one  of  the  few  real  concessions  we  have 
granted  to  Japanese  desire),  the  opening  of  five 
ports  to  foreign  residence  and  trade,  the  right  to 
appoint  an  envoy  in  the  capital  and  Consuls  in 
the  open  ports,  with  similar  rights  for  Japan  in 
the  other  countries,  commercial  reciprocity,  and 
the  maintenance  by  Japan  (without  compensation) 
of  lights  and  buoys  and  beacons  for  the  safe  navi- 
gation of  her  coasts  and  harbours. 

The  outside  world  has  thus  stood  still  for  Japan 
— it  has  shown  her  a face  as  changeless  as  a 
statue’s — for  thirty  years.  What  has  Japan  done 
in  the  meantime  ? When  these  treaties  were 
made,  her  people  had  .not  learned  to  distinguish 
between  Jesuit  and  layman,  and  therefore  hated 


JAPAN  FOR  THE  JAPANESE?  315 

them  alike,  for  it  is  not  sufficiently  appreciated 
that  the  cry  of  — “ Kill  the  foreigner”  was 

aimed  at  the  Church  of  Rome.  She  was  then 
perhaps  the  most  feudal  country  history  records  ; 
two  hundred  and  fifty  great  nobles,  the  Daimios, 
with  enormous  incomes  and  two  millions  of  re- 
tainers, ruled  the  land  from  Oshiu  to  Satsuma  ; 
when  they  moved  abroad  the  shout  of  “ Shita- 
ni~iro''  — “Bow  down”  preceded  them,,  and 
to  remain  standing  was  instant  death  ; each 
of  their  retainers,  fed  and  clothed  by  his  lord, 
and  ready  to  give  his  life  in  return,  had  no 
other  occupation  than  first  to  study  swords- 
manship and  afterwards  to  exercise  it  ; he  could 
cut  a man’s  head  off  by  the  simple  act  of  draw- 
ing his  blade  from  its  scabbard ; if  he  struck 
down  a merchant,  “ He  insulted  me,”  was  a suffi- 
cient excuse  and  explanation  ; and  any  crime  that 
he  committed,  as  well  as  the  least  infraction  of  a 
code  of  honour  without  parallel  for  punctilious- 
ness, could  be  expiated  by  formally  disem- 
bowelling himself,  the  hara-kiri  or  seppuku,"  an 
act  for  which  he  was  always  prepared.  Then  the 
Mikado  was  personally  a prisoner,  with  the  func- 
tions of  a dummy;  “since  the  Middle  Ages,” 
said  Okubo  in  his  historic  memorandum,  “ our 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


316 

Emperor  has  lived  behind  a screen  and  has  never 
set  foot  upon  the  ground.  Nothing  that  has 
happened  outside  has  ever  reached  his  sacred 
ears.’’  Then  there  was  a standing  prohibition  of 
“ the  wicked  sect,  called  Christian,”  and  offer  of 
rewards  for  the  denunciation  of  persons  suspected 
of  belonging  to  it.  Then  Russians  and  Dutch- 
men had  been  murdered  in  the  streets  of  Yoko- 
hama, the  interpreter  to  the  British  Legation 
murdered  in  Tokyo,  the  Legation  itself  twice 
attacked,  Mr.  Richardson  murdered,  then  Major 
Baldwin  and  Lieutenant  Bird  butchered,  sleeping 
British  sailors  killed  in  the  street  at  N agasaki,  a body 
of  foreigners  fired  upon  at  Hiogo,  eleven  French 
sailors  shot  at  Sakai,  and  the  escort  of  the  British 
Minister  himself  attacked  as  he  was  on  his  way 
to  visit  the  Mikado.  All  of  these  murders  that 
were  premeditated,  it  must  be  remembered,  were 
committed  from  the  most  patriotic  motives  by 
men  who  were  prepared  to  sacrifice  their  lives 
rather  than  see  what  they  regarded  as  the  dese- 
cration of  Japan  and  the  outrage  of  the  Mikado. 
“Could  I but  tranquillize  the  Imperial  mind,”  said 
the  testament  of  one  of  the  last  of  them,  “ it  would 
redound  to  my  greatest  honour,  though  I am  but 
a person  of  the  very  lowest  degree.”  Then  the 


/AFAN  FOjR  the  JAPANESE!  317 

merchant  was  only  two  in  the  social  scale  above 
the  man  who  carried  off  the  bodies  of  decapitated 
criminals,  and  one  degree  above  the  common 
coolie.  Then,  finally,  law  was  the  will  of  the 
Daimio,  finance  was  his  ability  to  squeeze  the 
agricultural  class,  and  politics  was  his  intrigue. 
Such  was  the  Japan  of  the  foreign  Treaties. 

What,  now,  is  the  Japan  of  to-day  ? It  is  late 
in  the  day  to  expatiate  upon  her  marvellous  pro- 
gress. She  has  at  her  command  an  army  of 
50,000  highly  trained  and  perfectly  equipped  men 
in  peace  and  150,000  in  war.  Her  fleet  numbers 
some  of  the  finest  and  fastest  vessels  afloat.  Her 
educational  system  is  an  ascending  scale  from 
public  schools  and  technical  schools  and  normal 
schools  to  a university  which  has  trained  men  to 
go  out  and  teach  the  Chinese  engineering  at 
Shanghai,  to  fill  many  important  well-paid  engi- 
neering posts  on  the  American  railways,  to  take 
sole  responsibility  of  several  great  chemical  estab- 
lishments in  Europe,  and  one  of  her  graduates 
has  been  for  several  years  the  salaried  private 
experimental  assistant  of  Dr.  Hoffman  in  Berlin, 
the  greatest  chemist  in  the  world,  a post  which 
hundreds  of  the  best  European  chemists  would 
gladly  fill  for  nothing  but  the  honour  and  the 


THE  REAL  JAPAN, 


318 

opportunity.  Her  police  system  is  if  anything 
too  complete  and  too  well  informed,  her  new 
Criminal  Code  has  been  pronounced  by  more 
than  one  great  jurist  to  be  without  a superior,  and 
the  Civil  Code  is  not  likely  to  fall  behind  it,  while 
I have  nowhere  seen  or  heard  of  prisons  more 
admirably  conducted  than  the  two  great  ones  I 
visited  in  Tokyo,  or  where  the  prisoners  do  such 
splendid  work  in  such  apparent  content,  amid 
surroundings  which  show  so  little  obtrusive  autho- 
rity. What  shall  one  take  as  a typical  test  of 
civilization  ? No  coast  in  the  world  is  better 
lighted  and  buoyed  than  that  of  Japan  ; nowhere 
are  life  and  property  more  secure  : in  no  country 
is  universal  courtesy  so  natural  and  so  certain. 
As  for  the  art  of  Japan,  if  that  be  any  test,  every- 
body knows  of  the  exquisite  drawings  and  lacquer 
and  silk  and  faience  and  silver  and  bronze  that 
was  produced  there  before  America  was  disco- 
vered. Why,  in  the  very  winter  that  Columbus 
hoisted  his  sail,  the  famous  Yoshimasa  was  in- 
augurating a new  departure  with  new  luxury  in 
the  Cka-no-yu  or  tea-drinking  ceremony,  probably 
the  most  elaborate  and  polished  ceremonial  that 
has  ever  been  devised.  And  the  splendid  gardens 
Gin- kakic  and  Kin-kakit — the  pavilions  of 


JAPAN  FOR  THE  JAPANESE?  319 

silver  and  gold  ” — at  Kyoto,  remain  to  this  day 
monuments  of  the  same  Yoshimasa’s  taste.  But 
these,  although  they  antedate  the  New  World, 
are  but  modern  in  Japan,  for  before  William  the 
Conqueror  crossed  the  channel  and  founded  at 
Hastings  the  England  that  we  know,  the  Court 
of  Nara  was  the  focus  of  a marvellous  art  and  a 
magnificent  life  which  are  among  the  inspirations 
of  Japanese  history.  And  as  I have  spoken  of 
outrage  and  murders,  there  is  one  more  example 
of  modern  Japan  to  show  that  the  book  of  in- 
tolerance has  been  read  aright  at  last  and  closed 
for  ever,  and  that  however  well  it  may  seem  to 
England  and  America  and  France  and  Germany 
to  show  thus  to  the  world  that  for  thirty  years 
they  have  learned  nothing  and  forgotten  nothing, 
for  Japan  at  any  rate  the  old  things  are  passed 
away.  At  Namamugi,  on  the  highway  from 
Yokohama  to  Tokyo,  beside  a well  under  the 
pine  trees,  the  spot  where  Richardson  v/as  mur- 
dered, stands  a monument  bearing  this  inscrip- 
tion : — “ In  memory  of  C.  D.  Richardson,  an 
Englishman,  who  lost  his  life  at  this  spot,  Sep- 
tember 14th,  1862.  This  monument  is  erected 
by  the  proprietor  of  the  land,  Kurokawa  Soyo,  at 
whose  request  the  following  epitaph  was  com- 

19 


320 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


posed  by  Keiu  Nakamura  Masanao,  December, 
1883.”  I am  told  that  the  epitaph  itself  is  a 
masterpiece  of  literary  construction.  It-  is  cer- 
tainly inspired  by  a very  lofty  sentiment,  and 
forcibly  presents  the  lesson  of  the  crime  as  a 
noble  message  of  international  good-will.  The 
following  translation  is  by  Captain  Brinkley  : — 

“Shed  by  this  sea-shore,  the  blood  of  a stranger 
Flowed  in  a fountain  of  national  progress. 

Strong  clans  uprising,  the  hands  of  the  Emperor 
Swayed  once  again  the  sceptre  of  Sovereignty ; 

And  towards  reform  the  mind  of  the  nation 
Turning,  awoke  to  the  rights  of  the  people. 

■ Who  in  the  homes  of  the  dead  or  the  living 
Knows  not  this  brave  man  ? His  name  shall  be  written 
Wherever  the  pages  of  history  are  open. 

I,  on  this  stone  his  story  recording, 

Pray  that  the  thought  of  the  blessings  he  brought  us 
May  gladden  his  heart  in  the  land  of  the  shades.”  - 

There  are  about  2,500  foreigners  (excluding 
Chinese),  and  over  forty  millions  of  Japanese  in 
Japan.  For  the  sake  of  the  former  the  great 
Powers  of  the  world  have  kept  the  latter  in  prac- 
tical bondage  since  1858.  If  it  be  thought  that 
“bondage”  is  too  strong  a term,  think  -for  a 
moment  what  the  state  of  affairs  is.  .Japan  has 
no  power  over-her  own  tariff,  and  is  compelled  to 


JAPAN  FOR  THE  JAPANESE?  321 

tax  her  agricultural  class  excessively  to  provide  a 
revenue.  She  has  no  jurisdiction  over  a single 
foreigner,  every  one  of  whom  must  be  tried  before 
his  own  Consul  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  his 
own  country.  Any  Japanese  with  a grievance 
against  a foreigner  must  take  action  before  that 
foreigner’s  Consul,  according  to  that  foreigner’s 
law  as  administered  by  a man  who  has  frequently 
had  no  legal  training  whatever,  for  a dozen  out  of 
the  sixteen  Consular  Courts  are  presided  over  by 
men  whose  only  education  has  been  in  the 
counting-house.  The  foreigners  in  Japan  are 
entirely  exempted  from  taxation,  and  the  treaty 
limits  within  which  they  reside  are  practically 
exempt  from  any  law  at  all,  for  municipal  govern- 
ment is  a farce  there.  Japan  has  spent  five 
million  dollars  in  lighting  and  buoying  her  coasts, 
and  spends  200,000  dollars  a year  in  maintaining 
the  system ; but  foreign  ships  pay  no  light  dues, 
and  no  harbour  or  tonnage  dues.  Yet  Japan  is 
absolutely  entitled  by  sacred  treaties  to  change  all 
this. 

And  what  are  these  Treaty  Powers  and  their 
interests  ? The  following  table  ^ tells  the  story  : — 

^ These  statistics  are  for  1887,  but  the  proportions  are 
virtually  unaltered  to-day.  • . 


322 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


Countries. 

Great  Britain 
United  States 

Fiance  

Germany 


Total  Import  and 
Export  Trade. 
Yen. 

..  29,502,053 
..  24,812,363 
..  11,841,743 
..  4,932,638 


Number  of  subjects 
or  citizens  residing 
in  Japan. 

1,124 

475 

209 

281 


Switzerland  745,289 

Italy  718,750 

Belgium  346,010 

Austria-Hungary 315,809 

Russia  221,233 

Spain  173,243 

Denmark  74,375 

Netherlands 72,326 

Hawaii 10,655 

Sweden  and  Norway  10,086 

Portugal  1,846 

Peru  1,184 


Totals 73,779,603 


32 

30 

8 

34 

32 

3 

41 

50 

24 

45 


2,389 


These  are  the  sixteen  “ Treaty  Powers,”  the 
assent  of  each  and  every  one  of  which  Japan 
must  get  before  she  can  avail  herself  of  the 
undoubted  right  to  revise  her  treaties.  Fancy 
Japan’s  autonomy  depending  on  the  consent  of 
Belgium  or  Denmark  or  Hawaii  or  Peru ! The 
notion  is  ludicrous. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  Japan  has  tamely 
acquiesced  for  years  in  this  state  of  things  with- 
out protests  or  attempts  to  change  it.  The  in- 
conveniences and  losses  and  humiliations  she  has 
suffered  preclude  such  a supposition.  On  the 


JAPAN  FOR  THE  JAPANESE?  323 

contrary,  her  efforts  to  escape  from  her  bondage 
have  been  dramatic.  The  curtain  rose  on  the 
first  act  in  April,  1882,  when  Count  Inouye  pro- 
posed to  the  foreign  ministers  a simple  and  equit- 
able arrangement  according  to  which  Japan 
should  be  opened  to  foreign  trade,  on  the  one 
hand,  in  exchange  for  a certain  measure  of 
judicial  autonomy  being  granted  to  her  on  the 
other.  She  stated,  namely,  that  her  new  Criminal 
Code  was  complete  and  had  won  the  eulogy  of 
the  most  eminent  European  jurists,  that  her  Civil 
Code  would  shortly  be  finished,  and  that  she 
would  agree  to  have  every  foreigner  tried  in 
Japan  by  a bench  upon  which  properly  qualified 
foreign  judges  should  be  in  a majority.  This 
proffered  arrangement  was  promptly  rejected, 
the  British  Minister,  I believe,  leading  the  oppo- 
sition. 

In  the  spring  of  1884  a limited  measure  of 
judicial  autonomy  was  proposed  to  Japan — z.e.y 
foreigners  were  to  be  partially  subject  to  Japanese 
law — on  condition  of  a few  more  “ accessible 
ports  ” being  thrown  open  to  foreign  residence 
and  trade.  But  as  was  immediately  pointed  out, 
first,  Japan  desired  to  open  the  whole  country 
and  to  have  the  whole  of  the  judicial  control,  and 


324  "THE  REAL  JAPAN. 

until  this  was  done  the  present  foreign  ports  were 
more  than  enough.  And  for  foreigners  to  be 
partly  under  Japanese  law  and  partly  under 
foreign  law,  would  be  one  degree  worse  and  more 
confusing,  if  possible,  than  for  them  not  to  be 
subject  to  Japanese  law  at  all.  So  a long  series 
of  desultory  mutual  communications  dragged  the 
question  on  vainly,  and  aimlessly  till  the  summer 
of  1886. 

Perhaps  by  this  time  the  best  of  the  foreign 
Ministers  were  growing  rather  ashamed  of  their 
attitude  towards  Japan,  but  whatever  the  motive 
power,  the  British  and  German  Ministers,  Sir 
Francis  Plunkett  and  Baron  Von  Holleben,  pre- . 
sented  to  Count  Inouye  the  subsequently  famous 
“Anglo-German  Note,”  proposing  to  reopen 
negotiations  upon  virtually  the  terms  of  the 
Japanese  proposal  of  four  years  before.  • The 
proposal  was  warmly  welcomed,  and  the  sixteen 
representatives  of  Treaty  Powers  met  in  the 
Council  Chamber  of  the  Foreign  Office  for  week 
after  week  and  month  after  month.  When  the 
Conference  met  in  1886  the  proposed  arrange- 
ment contained  four  articles  : — 

I.  The  whole  of  Japan  to  be  thrown  open  to 
foreign  residence  and  trade. 


JAPAN  FOJ^  THE  JAPANESE?  325 

2.  Extra-territoriality  or  Consular  jurisdiction 
to  be  abolished. 

3.  The  tariff  to  be  revised. 

4.  The  Japanese  codes  to  be  in  accordance  with 
the  principles  of  Western  jurisprudence,  and 
competent  courts  established. 

When  the  sixteen  ministers  and  Consuls  and 
the  Japanese  representative  finally  got  into  line 
in  April,  1887,  and  the  proposals  were  sent  for- 
ward, the  following  gigantic  conditions  had  been 
evolved 

1.  For  the  criminal  portion  of  a total  foreign 
population  of  3,000  souls  an  array  of  com- 
petent highly-paid  foreign  judges  equal  in 
number  to  the  whole  English  bench  was  to 
be  provided.  These  were  to  be  appointed  by 
Japan,  paid  by  Japan,  but  dismissible,  how- 
ever, not  by  Japan,  but  only  by  their  fellow 
judges. 

2.  Japanese  and  English  were  to  be  the  official 
languages  of  the  Court,  but  any  foreign 
tongue  was  to  be  admissible,  and  therefore 
a full  staff  of  court  interpreters  to  be  pro- 
vided. 

3.  The  new  Civil  Code  to  be  “communicated’' 
to  the  sixteen  Treaty  Powers  eight  months 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


326 

before  Treaty  Revision  comes  into  operation, 
and  every  legal  alteration  or  addition  for  the 
subsequent  fifteen  years  to  be  similarly 
communicated.” 

Such  conditions  surely  need  only  to  be  stated 
to  be  seen  to  be  preposterous,  and  the  consent 
of  a Japanese  statesman  to  them  can  only  be 
accounted  for  by  an  overwhelming  desire  to  see 
the  fact  of  helplessness  and  the  stigma  of  bar- 
barity removed  from  his  country  at  any  price, 
rather  than  again  indefinitely  postponed.  No 
wonder  that  the  American  Minister  sprang  to  his 
feet  in  the  Conference  Chamber  and  exclaimed 
indignantly,  “ Gentlemen,  we  are  sitting  here 
legislating  for  Japan  ! ” For  as  a representative 
of  one  of  the  Great  Powers  said  to  me  (I  quote 
his  exact  words),  “It  would  have  been  a shame 
to  let  Japan  put  her  hand  to  such  an  unfair 
bargain.” 

In  the  meantime  public  opinion  in  Japan  had 
grown  active  on  the  subject  of  Treaty  Revision, 
and  as  soon  as  these  conditions  were  understood 
it  made  itself  felt  in  an  unmistakable  manner. 
The  extra  5 per  cent,  which  Japan  was  to  be 
allowed  to  add  to  her  tariff  would  not  more  than 
suffice,  it  was  objected,  to  pay  her  foreign  judges  ; 


JAPAN  FOR  THE  JAPANESE?  327 

the  notion  of  Japan  engaging  and  paying  Imperial 
servants  whom  she  could  not  dismiss  was  charac- 
terized as  absurd  ; while  for  Japan  to  be  com- 
pelled to  submit  all  her  laws  for  fifteen  years  to 
sixteen  foreign  countries  for  approval — including 
Denmark,  Portugal,  Hawaii  and  Peru! — was  de- 
nounced as  a humiliating  blow  dealt  at  the 
national  dignity.  It  was  soon  evident  that  no 
Japanese  Government  would  venture  to  accept 
such  conditions,  and  accordingly  Count  Inouye 
informed  the  foreign  representatives  that  Japan 
would  postpone  further  negotiations  until  she 
could  lay  both  her  Codes  and  the  composition  of 
her  Courts  upon  the  table,  when  there  would  be 
no  need  of  discussing  conditions.  Soon  after- 
wards Count  Inouye  resigned  the  portfolio  of 
Foreign  Affairs.  Thus  everything  was  “ off” 
once  more. 

When  the  storm  which  forced  Count  Inouye 
out  of  office  had  subsided,  the  reins  of  Foreign 
Affairs  were  taken  up  by  Count  Okuma.  The 
latter,  remembering  the  failure  of  trying  to  treat 
with  sixteen  nations  at  once,  adopted  the  plan  of 
approaching  the  greater  ones  separately.  The 
scheme  he  produced  consisted  of  two  points  : 
first,  that  the  revised  codes  should  be  printed  in 


328  ' THE  REAL  JAPAN. 

English  and  promulgated  two  years  before  the 
abolition  of  Consular  jurisdiction ; and  second, 
that  foreign  judges  should  sit  in  a majority  to  try 
all  cases  affecting  foreigners.  If  these  conditions 
were  accepted  he  was  prepared  to  open  Japan  to 
foreign  trade,  travel  and  residence.  The  United 
States,  Gerrnany,  Russia  and  France  at  once 
accepted  them.  If  England  had  done  so  too 
the  matter  would  have  been  settled.  But  while 
England  hesitated,  Japanese  public  opinion 
awoke.  The  clause  about  foreign  judges  was 
declared  to  be  contrary  to  the  Constitution,  and 
as  the  time  for  the  assembling  of  the  first  Diet 
(in  which  for  the  future  power  to  confirm  or 
repudiate  treaties  was  vested)  was  close  at  hand, 
it  was  claimed,  not  without  justice,  that  this 
momentous  question  should  be  postponed  for  its 
decision.  Again  the  storm  of  public  feeling 
broke,  and  this  time  it  was  accompanied  by  a 
lightning  flash  of  old  Japanese  methods.  At  a 
Cabinet  Council  the  whole  Cabinet  decided  to 
resign  in  a body,  and  a fanatic  lay  in  wait  for 
Count  Okuma  at  the  gate  of  the  Foreign  Office 
as  he  returned  from  this  council,  and  threw  at  him 
a dynamite  bomb,  shattering  one  of  his  legs,  and 
then,  without  waiting  to  see  the  effect  of  his  blow% 


JAPAN  FOR  THE  JAPANESE? 


329 


cut  his  own  throat  and  fell  dead.  It  is  impossible 
to  describe  the  popular  excitement  which  ensued, 
and  in  the  hiidst  of  this  Count  Okuma,  who  had 
barely  escaped  with  his  life,  resigned'  office. 
Viscount  Aoki  succeeded  him,  and  submitted 
proposals  again,  but  this  time  shorn  of  the  clause 
about  the  foreign  judges,  which  Japanese  opinion 
had  finally  declared  itself  against.  Since  then 
Viscount  Aoki  has  disappeared  from  office  like 
his  predecessors,  the  treaties  with  the  United 
States,  Germany,  Russia  and  France  have  become 
a dead  letter,  England  ,has  not  moved  in  the 
matter,  but  the  Criminal,  Civil  and  Commercial 
Codes,  and  the  Laws  of  Criminal  and  Civil  Pro- 
cedure have  all  been  promulgated. 

As  regards  the  value  of  these  Codes  and  the 
relative  position  they  confer  upon  Japan,  let  some 
one  who  is  qualified  speak.  Nobody  has  a better 
right  than  the  distinguished  jurist,  M.  Boissonade 
de  la  Fontarabie,  who  presided  over  their  crea- 
tion. Here  are  his  own  words  : “ Le  Japon  a 
aujourdhui  une  Constitution  aussi  liberale  que 
celle  de  beaucoup  de  pays  d’  Europe.  II  jouit 
depuis  longtemps  d’une  complete  liberte  religieuse. 
Les  penalites  sont  douces  et  proportionnees, 
autant  et  peut-etre  plus  qu  ailleurs,  a la  gravite 


330 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


des  infractions.  Les  magistrals  n’y  sont  nommes 
qu’apres  des  justifications  d’etudes  serieuses,  et 
un  stage  prolonge  dans  les  fonctions  inferieures. 
La  magistrature  est  desormais  inamovible.  Celle 
des  nations  etrangeres  qui  la  premiere  donnera 
aux  autres  I’exemple  de  la  contiance  envers  le 
Japon  sera  aussi  celle  qui  aura  montre  le  plus  de 
clairvoyance  politique  et  aura  le  mieux  observe  le 
principe  fondamental  du  droit  des  gens,  qui  est 
le  respect  de  I’autonomie  des  nations  indepen- 
dantes.” 

Since  the  fall  of  Viscount  Aoki  Japanese 
opinion  has  been  daily  growing  more  hostile  to 
concessions  of  any  kind,  and  more  independent. 
It  is  the  story  of  the  Sibylline  books  over  again. 
We  would  not  have  concessions  wLen  they  were 
offered  us  ; they  grew  steadily  smaller  at  each 
new  offer  ; now  we  shall  in  all  probability  never 
have  them  at  all.  “ At  present,”  said  a local 
newspaper  two  years  ago,  “ the  indignities  to 
which  Japan  is  exposed  by  the  necessity  of 
observing  treaties  that  virtually  deprive  her  of 
independence  are  little  en  evidence.  Their  prac- 
tical inconvenience  is  quietly  obviated  by  negotia- 
tion, and  the  general  public  is  not  sharply  re- 
minded of  their  existence.  But  things  will  be 


JAPAN  FOP  THE  JAPANESE? 


331 


different  under  representative  institutions.  Par- 
liament will  then  become  a vehicle  for  bringing 
the  empire  into  open  and  irksome  contact  with  its 
humiliation.  The  nation  will  be  publicly  re- 
minded that  for  eighteen  years  its  statesmen 
failed  to  assert  the  independence  which  was  its 
unquestionable  right,  and  that  their  thirty  years’ 
achievement  of  enfranchising  the  people  merely 
meant  the  mockery  of  inviting  them  to  legislate 
subject  to  the  vetoes  or  approvals  of  a dozen 
foreign  ministers.” 

This  has  now  precisely  come  to  pass.  Count 
Okuma  was  overthrown  by  a combination  of  five 
political  parties,  whose  cry  is  Taito-joyakzt — “ a 
treaty  on  'terms  of  absolute  equality.”  And  to- 
day the  most  influential  party  in  Japan  holds  the 
view  that  “ Japan  is  the  victim  of  her  own  weak- 
ness, and  that  her  just  claims  would  be  at  once 
recognized  did  she  possess  the  means  of  enforcing 
them,  or  did  she  make  a really  resolute  effort  to 
have  them  recognized.”  Here  is  a typical  ex- 
pression of  Japanese  feeling  on  the  subject:  “The 
Japan  of  to-day  is  not  the  Japan  of  old.  The 
treaties  are  no  longer  appropriate.  What  is 
wanted  is  the  courage  to  take  decisive  action. 
We  must  have  an  army  ready  to  meet  any 


332 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


attempt  at  intimidation,  which  would  in  any  case 
not  be  joined  in  by  all  the  Powers.  If  foreigners 
refuse  to  listen  to  us,  and  resort  to  unjust 
measures,  we  should  leave  the  issue  to  be  settled 
by  war.  I hold  that  in  our  intercourse  with 
foreigners  we  should  endeavour  to  cultivate  their 
friendship  by  observing  good  faith  and  justice  in 
our  dealings  with  them.  But  where  our  national 
rights  are  concerned,  where  the  peace  and  tran- 
quility of  our  country  are  at  stake,  what  we 
require  is  energy  and  courage  and  to  remain  firm 
to  the  last  extremity.  Our  foreign  relations  are 
influenced  exclusively  by  intimidation.  There  is 
an-old  saying  that  excess  of  good-nature  is  akin 
to  weakness  ; too  much  courtesy  an  approach  to 
flattery.  Foreigners  are  guided  by  selfish  policy. 
Let  us  abandon  the  course  we  have  pursued 
hitherto.  Let  us  increase  our  military  resources, 
deepen  our  moats,  build  formidable  fortifications. 
At  the  same  time  let  us  observe  good  faith  and 
practice. justice  while  maintaining  our  dignity. 
Japan  - should  aim  at  becoming  the  leader  of 
Eastern  nations,  with  the  aid  of  twenty -powerful 
men-of-war  and  100,000  well-drilled  troops.’' - 
- There  is  no  need  for  any  further  argument. 
The  situation  is  quite  clear  to  any  intelligent  and 


JAPAN  FOR  THE  JAPANESE?  333 

unprejudiced  observer.  All  the  justice  is  on  the 
side  of  Japan,  and  all  the  expediency  for  ourselves, 
alas.  Whether  or  not  England  still  has  it  in  her 
power,  as  she  has  had  for  so  long,  to  settle  the 
question  by  taking  the  lead,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  secure  for  herself  the  very  valuable  friendship 
of  Japan  against  the  day  when  she  will  stand  in 
great  need  of  it  in  the  Pacific,  it  is  impossible  to 
say.  Even  if  she  has,  one  may  well  despair  of 
her  taking  the  step.  Thirty-one  medals  were 
once  struck  with  this  inscription,  “ Presented  by 
the  British  Government  for  gallantry  in  defence 
of  the  British  Legation,  July  6th,  1861,”  namely, 
when  the  Tozenji  Temple  at  Takanawa  was 
attacked  by  ro7izn  of  the  Mi  to  clan.  These  were 
actually  presented  in  July,  1889.  During  the 
intervening  twenty-eight  years  they  had  reposed 
in  a safe  in  the  British  Legation  ! Will  British 
action  on  the  question  of  Treaty  Revision  proceed 
with  equal  promptitude  ? Absit  omen. 

I am  inclined  to  think  that  no  foreign  govern- 
ment will  have  much  more  chance  of  settling  this 
or  any  similar  question  in  the  future  for  Japan. 
At  any  rate,  if  I were  a Japanese  statesman,  or 
the  adviser  of  one,  I should  say,  “ denounce’’  the 
treaties  and  announce  the  expiration  of  them  at 


334 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


a near  date.  Then  let  such  nations  as  liked 
make  new  ones  on  terms  of  equality.  Every 
principle  of  justice,  and  two  or  three  of  the  most 
powerful  nations  in  the  world  will  be  on  your 
side.  It  is  quite  certain  that  no  nation  will  fight 
for  its  wretched  treaty.  And  even  if  it  did,  there 
might  be  worse  things  for  Japan.  The  gods  help 
those  who  help  themselves. 


XIII. 

THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN. 


20 


THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN. 


J N the  family  of  nations 
(I  am  sorry  I forget  who 
made  this  clever  remark) 
Japan  is  the  child  of  the 
world’s  old  age.  And  the 
children  of  the  aged  are 
commonly  spoiled.  If 
they  are  precocious  their 
parents  almost  always 
neglect  discipline  and  even 
justice  for  the  pleasure 
they  derive  themselves 
from  their  interesting  off- 
spring. Now,  there  never 
was  such  precocity  as  that 
of  Japan.  Are  we  not 
perhaps  spoiling  her  by  our  unvarying  eulogy  ^ 


338 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


Such  reflections  as  these  must  occur  to  any  one 
who  has  studied  the  real  Japan  of  to-day,  con- 
ceived and  frankly  expressed  the  greatest  admira- 
tion for  her,  and  then  after  awhile  sat  himself 
down  to  answer  the  question,  “ What  is  to  be  the 
end  of  it  all  ? Is  the  finished  product  to  be 
worthy  of  the  aims  and  efforts  that  have  created 
it  ? ” The  sight  of  record-breaking  is  always 
exciting,  but  subsequent  reflection  should  prompt 
the  inquiry  whether  the  broken  record  is  worth 
the  struggle  and  whether  the  system  of  the 
breaker  can  stand  the  strain.  Certainly  no  study 
of  contemporary  Japan,  in  which  these  vital 
questions  are  ignored,  can  claim  a respectful 
hearing.  For  myself,  they  recur  to  me  with 
growing  frequency  and  become  more  and  more 
difficult  to  answer  confidently  as  I would  wish. 

The  truth  is  that  in  spite  of  the  countless 
visitors  to  Japan  and  the  mass  of  literature  about 
things  Japanese,  the  European  world  is  still 
curiously  far  from  an  adequate  understanding  of 
these  “Yankees  of  the  Pacific” — ignorant  of  the 
common  facts  of  their  life  and  country,  still  more 
ignorant  of  their  real  character  and  temperament. 
An  English  writer  in  Japan  recently  put  this 
very  forcibly  by  a simple  analogy:  “After  cen- 


THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN.  339 

turies  of  the  closest  intercourse  with  our  Conti- 
nental neighbours,  how  many  of  the  latter  have 
.succeeded  in  describing  us  so  as  to  escape  our 
.derision  and  indignation.  We  have  been  long 
enough  en  evide7ice  to  furnish  ample  materials  for 
analysis.  Our  literature  is  an  open  book ; our 
domestic  habits  are  well  known ; our  institutions, 
our  social  customs,  in  short,  all  phases  of  our 
public  and  private  lives  are,  or  ought  to  be, 
familiar.  Yet  we  are  perpetually  and  grossly 
misjudged.  Is  it  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
Western  estimates  of  Japanese  character  err  at 
least  as  flagrantly  ? ” Many  of  these  errors  are 
due  directly  to  blind  guides.  For  instance,  to 
take  two  or  three  examples  that  occur  to  me  at 
the  moment.  Miss  Bird,  plucky  and  painstaking 
as  she  was,  fell  into  an  error  exquisitely  ludicrous 
but  unfortunately  indescribable  ; and  Miss  Gordon- 
Cumming  made  herself  responsible  for  the  follow- 
ing nonsense  : “ In  Japan  at  the  present  day  . . . 
by  law  any  person  inciting  another  to  smoke 
opium  or  any  person  selling  it,  is  liable  to  be 
executed.  Oh,  wise  Japan  ! ” ^ Even  Mr. 
Wingfield,  cultivated  and  experienced  traveller, 
delivered  himself  of  the  following  prophecy  a few 
^ “ Wanderings  in  China,”  vol.  ii.  p.  306. 


340 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


years  ago  : “ The  Mikado  promises  at  a proximate 
date  a Constitution.  It  seems  more  than  likely 
that  when  the  time  arrives  he  and  his  Constitu- 
tion will  be  relegated  to  limbo,  with  scant  cere- 
mony, as  old-fashioned  and  out  of  date.”  ^ It  did 
not  need  time  to  refute  this  forecast  : so  far  as 
concerns  the  Emperor  it  would  have  been  impos- 
sible to  mistake  more  completely  the  Japanese 
character.  Mistakes  like  these  could  be  collected 
by  the  hundred.^  And  indeed,  as  a local  versifier 
has  said — 

“ it  isn’t  easy 

For  one  who’s  never  been  to  far  Japan, 

To  know  a kaki?no7io  from  a gaily-flowered  kwwno, 

To  know  a sayonara  from  an  ichibanL 

The  common  idea  of  Japanese  progress  is  that 
a people  possessing  vast  natural  charm,  courage, 
intelligence,  devotion  and  health,  are  being  shaped 
in  the  mould  of  a final  Western  civilization — that 
consummate  experience  is  being  grafted  upon 
primeval  virtue.  No  wonder  we  anticipate  the 
result  with  satisfaction.  It  will  be  well,  however, 
to  divest  ourselves  for  a moment  of  the  effects 

“Wanderings  of  a Globe-Trotter,”  vol.  ii.  p.  24. 

Perhaps  the  worst  offender  of  all  is  “A  Class-Book  of 
Geography,”  by  C.  B.  Clarke,  F.R.S.,  Revised  Edition. 
London,  1889. 


THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN,  341 

which  the  delight  of  Japan — its  natural  beauty, 
the  charm  of  its  inhabitants,  the  fascination  of  its 
art — has  left  upon  us,  and  consider  the  Japanese 
people  in  at  least  a cool  frame  of  mind,  if  not 
actually  in  a critical  one. 

To  begin  with,  there  is  very  much  in  Japanese 
life  that  is  purely  oriental  (in  the  bad  sense)  and 
barbaric  (in  the  good  sense).  I shall  never  forget 
my  first  revelation  of  this.  I was  walking  in  the 
Japanese  town  of  Yokohama  when  I suddenly 
came  upon  an  extraordinary  spectacle.  Upon  an 
ordinary  bullock-cart  a raised  platform  and 
scaffolding  twenty  feet  high  had  been  constructed, 
and  bullock  and  all  covered  with  paper  decora- 
tions and  green  boughs  and  artificial  flowers.  In 
front  a girl  with  a grotesque  mask  danced  and 
postured,  while  half  a dozen  musicians  twanged 
impossible  instruments  and  kept  up  an  incessant 
tattoo  on  drums.  Children  wild  with  delight 
crowded  up  among  the  performers  and  clung  like 
flies  all  over  the  cart,  and  only  that  providence 
which  takes  care  of  them,  together  with  drunkards 
and  the  United  States  of  America,  preserved  them 
from  making  a Juggernaut  of  it.  On  foot  around 
the  bashi,  as  the  whole  structure  is  called,  were 
twenty  or  thirty  men,  naked  as  to  their  legs,  their 


with  loose  rings.  The  colours,  the  song,  the 
dance,  the  music  and  the  clanging  iron,  formed 
together  a spectacle  as  barbarous  in  taste  as  pos- 
sible, something  wholly  different  from  what  one 
had' supposed  the  gentle  culture  of  the  Japanese 


342  THE  REAL  /ARAH 

faces  chalked,  with  straw  hats  a yard  wide,  many- 
coloured  tunics  in  which  scarlet  predominated, 
decked  out  with  paper  streamers  and  flowers 
enough  to  make  a Sioux  chief  despair  of  himself, 
dancing  along  to  a very  rude  chant  and  at  every 
step  banging  upon  the  ground  a long  iron  bar  fitted 


A MATSURI  IN  YOKOHAMA. 


THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN. 


343 


to  be.  Yet  it  was  a semi-religious  procession — a 
ma^mrz— corresponding  to  what  one  may  see  in 
Spain  or  Mexico  or  Manila.  With  the  idea  of 
Japan- 1 had  brought  from  Europe  I could  scarcely 
believe  my  eyes  : the  performance  corresponded 
more  to  my  idea  of  New  Guinea. 

A volume  could  be  filled  easily  with  illustra- 
tions of  this  same  side  of  the  Japanese  character. 
On  the  occasion  of  a beam-rearing  ceremony 
recently  at  the  Hongwanji  Temple  the  ropes  were 
made  of  human  hair  contributed  by  the  devotees. 
There  were  twenty-four  pieces,  varying  in  diame- 
ter from  four  to  seven  inches,  and  weighing  over 
8,847  It  was  calculated  that  358,883  heads 

of  the  faithful  were  thus  despoiled  that  the  temple 
might  be  honoured.  As  a specimen  of  popular 
superstition,  the  Japanese  populace  believe  that  a 
huge  catfish  lies  imprisoned  by  the  weight  of  the 
Japanese  islands  upon  him,  and  that  the  frequent 
earthquakes  are  caused  by  his  ineffectual  struggles 
to  free  himself.  Again,  I once  saw  a crowd  of 
Japanese  pilgrims  at  Nikko  eagerly  buying  charms 
at  a halfpenny  each  from  the  temple  priests,  who 
were  assuring  them  that  the  possessor  of  a charm 
was  secure  against  an  appalling  list  of  possible 
.evils,  and  safe  to  enjoy  numerous  blessings,  in- 


344 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


eluding  a painless  delivery  in  child-birth.  To  be 
quite  frank,  Japan  is  not  infrequently  oriental  and 
barbaric  even  in  two  of  the  matters  for  which  she 
receives  in  Europe  the  greatest  credit — politeness 
and  cleanliness.  Count  Goto  recently  issued  in- 
structions to  all  officials  of  the  Communications 
Department,  of  which  he  was  the  head,  enjoining 
the  duty  of  treating  every  member  of  the  public, 
irrespective  of  social  or  official  position,  with 
politeness  and  civility.  He  would  hardly  have 
done  this  without  good  cause.  And  as  regards 
cleanliness,  except  that  of  the  person,  which  is 
preserved  by  the  luxury  of  the  frequent  hot  bath, 
Japan  is  a great  sinner.  The  sanitary  arrange- 
ments of  many  even  of  the  best  houses  are  in- 
describable ; those  of  the  middle  and  lower  class 
houses  are  often  simply  unthinkable.  The 
Japanese  do  not  appear  to  be  physically  conscious 
of  a foul  smell.  It  is  quite  common  to  be  offered 
a room  in  a tea-house  or  a bed  in  an  inn,  in 
the  close  vicinity  of  something  so  obvious  to  the 
European  nose  (it  would  perhaps  be  more  accurate 
to  say  the  Anglo-Saxon  nose)  that  sickness  would 
be  the  not  distant  result  of  remaining.  If  the 
snow-white  mats  we  admire  so  much  in  Japanese 
houses  were  taken  up,  in  many  cases  the  revela- 


THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN. 


345 


tion  of  dirt  beneath  would  be  startling.  A para- 
dise of  fleas  would  not  be  the  chief  evil.  And  a 
correspondent  of  the  Japan  Mail  wrote  the  other 
day  asking  “ were  there  ever  such  filthy,  abomi- 
nably filthy  tramcars  as  those  in  Tokyo?”  All 
this  is  an  unpleasant  and  ungracious  topic,  so  I 
will  only  add  that  the  list  could  be  greatly  ex- 
tended. 

There  is  also  in  Japan  a belief  concerning  the 
highest  matters  of  interest,  which  will  strike  a 
European  mind  as  still  more  extraordinary. 
When  the  Emperor  ^ has  occasion  to  refer  to 
the  origin  of  his  dynasty  he  is  apt  to  refer  to  the 
time  ten  thousand  years  ago,  “ when  our  divine 
Ancestors  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth.” 
When  His  Majesty  promulgated  the  Constitution 
he  did  “ humbly  and  solemnly  swear  to  the  Im- 
perial Founder  of  Our  House  and  to  Our  other 
Imperial  Ancestors,”  and  did  “now  reverently 
make  Our  prayer  to  Them  and  to  Our  Illustrious 
Father,  and  implore  the  help  of  Their  Sacred 

^ The  title  “ Mikado  ” is  obsolete  and  inaccurate,  and 
the  Japanese  dislike  the  employment  of  it  by  foreigners. 
Educated  Japanese,  I am  told,  call  their  sovereign  “ Shujo- 
sama,”  and  ordinary  folks  say  “ Tenshi-sama,”  while  the  ex- 
pression “ Tenno  ” is  used  in  all  official  documents.  The  title 
“ Emperor  ” is  the  proper  one  for  use  by  foreigners. 


346 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


Spirits.”  And  he  further  declared  that  the  Im- 
jDerial  Throne  of  Japan  is  “everlasting  from  ages 
eternal  in  an  unbroken  line  of  succession.”  The 
“Illustrious  Father”  is  Jimmu-Tenno,  to  whom 
Tensho-Daijin,  the  sun-goddess,  gave  a round 
mirror,  her  portrait,  a sword,  a seal  and  a bro- 
caded banner.  A heroic  wooden  statue  of  this 
Jimmu-Tenno,  childishly  clumsy  and  inartistic, 
was  awarded  the  first  prize  at  the  great  Tokyo 
Exhibition  last  year.  Now,  there  seems  a fatal 
want  of  harmony  between  these  beliefs,  which  are 
devoutly  held  by  every  loyal  Japanese,  and  the 
modern  scientific  spirit  which  is  supposed  to  be 
actuating  his  country.  Between  the  divine  An- 
cestry of  the  Emperor  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
telephone  on  the  other,  there  seems  an  impassable 
gulf.  But  since  I give  this  as  an  example  of  the 
oriental  and  barbaric  side  of  the  Japanese  charac- 
ter, it  is  only  fair  that  I should  quote  the  defence 
of  the  Emperor’s  w^ords,  which  was  immediately 
made  by  the  ablest  friend  of  Japan.  “The 
formula  used  ,by  the  Emperor  in  the  speech  from 
the  Throne,  was  not  an  invocation  of  Imperial 
•ghosts.  It  w^as  simply  a stereotyped  way  of 
saying  that  His  Majesty  does  not  claim  for  him- 
self the  credit  of  the  things  achieved  in  his  reign  ; 


THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN. 


347 


that  he  attributes  them  rather  to  the  wise  rule  of 
his  predecessors,  under  whose  sway  the  nation  has 
been  gradually  educated  to  fitness  for  the  reforms 
of  the  Meiji  era.  The  Japanese,  indeed,  believe 
that  the  immortal  souls  of  the  dead  retain  some 
interest  in  the  sphere  where  their  fondest  hopes 
were  once  centred  and  their  noblest  efforts  exer- 
cised. They  do  not  suppose  that  death  involves 
everlasting  oblivion  to  the  things  and  persons 
among  whom  life  is  spent.  When  the  Emperor 
spoke  of  the  spirits  of  his  ancestors,  he  un- 
doubtedly expressed  his  faith  that  these  have 
always  retained  and  do  still  retain  a benevolent 
interest  in  the  kingdom  they  once  governed. 
But  what  he  chiefly  sought  to  convey,  what  his 
Japanese  hearers  chiefly  understood  by  his  speech, 
was  that  he  recognized  the  work  done  by  previous 
Emperors,  and  did  not  pretend  to  usurp  the 
credit  of  progress  for  which  the  nation  could  not 
have  been  prepared  without  their  rule.  His 
Majesty  will  probably  be  better  advised  in  future. 
He  will  hereafter  adopt  some  of  the  religious 
formulae,  some  of  the  claims  to  Heavenly  Guardian- 
ship, that  Western  Sovereigns  employ  when  they 
proceed  to  cut  one  another’s  throats  or  to  steal 
one  another’s  territories.  Having  advanced  so 


348 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


far  in  Occidental  civilization,  Japan  must  now 
begin  to  adopt  its  cant  as  well  as  its  culture.”  ^ 

Whether  or  not  this  ingenious  explanation  dis- 
poses of  the  appearance  of  orientalism  and  bar- 
barism is  a matter  for  the  readers  judgment. 
The  latter  may  conceivably  add,  too,  that  granting 
the  completeness  of  the  superstition,  it  can  be 
paralleled  in  Europe.  All  I desire  to  express  is 
that  these  matters  I have  briefly  mentioned,  and 
many  similar  ones  I have  not,  are  as  much  the 
real  Japan”  as  her  Codes,  her  coinage,  her 
cavalry,  and  her  Constitution  ; and  that  although 
many  of  her  statesmen  are  as  enlightened  as  may 
be  desired,  and  as  I for  one  know  them  to  be, 
still  they  can  only  work  with  the  material  at  their 
command — they  can  only  build  their  people’s 
progress  upon  their  people’s  character. 

There  is  another  way  of  examining  this  ques- 
tion of  the  future  of  Japan.  Instead  of  en- 
deavouring to  deduce  the  results  from  the  general 
character,  let  us  take  the  results  as  far  as  they 
have  been  reached  at  present,  and  see  if  the  same 
general  character  can  be  inferred  from  them. 
The  trouble  with  this  method  will  be  that  we 
shall  become  involved  in  a mass  of  apparently 
^ Japan  Weekly  Mail,  March  23,  1889. 


{An  Instantaneous  Photograph.) 


'yk'z 


THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN. 


351 


contradictory  examples.  Take  the  sphere  of 
politics,  for  instance.  The  first  general  election 
was  held  last  year,  when  649  candidates  contested 
299  seats.  The  elections  passed  off  as  if  the 
Japanese  had  been  electing  members  of  Parlia- 
ment since  the  days  when  the  Emperor’s  ancestors 
laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth.  “ People 
seemed  to  regard  the  affair  as  a piece  of  every- 
day business.  There  were  no  crowds,  no  posters, 
no  bands,  no  processions,  no  dead  cats,  no 
rotten  eggs.”  But  one  successful  candidate  was 
promptly  assassinated  in  the  provinces.  One 
very  popular  gentleman  and  scholar  in  Tokyo 
inserted  advertisements  in  the  papers  asking 
electors  not  to  vote  for  him.  There  was  a 
good  deal  of  corruption,  and  many  candidates 
were  returned  without  much  regard  to  their 
personal  fitness.  But  on  the  other  hand,  we  find 
a Japanese  newspaper  addressing  these  singularly 
wise  words  to  its  readers  : “We  warn  electors 
that  those  who  bribe  them  to  obtain  votes  will  be 
the  first  to  sell  the  interests  of  their  constituencies 
in  the  House.  There  are  methods  of  bribery 
which,  though  not  defined  by  law,  are  as  surely 
bribery  as  the  actual  payment  of  coin.  Clean 
legislators  cannot  be  created  out  of  unclean  can- 


352  ; THE  REAL  JAPAN.  : ■ 

didates.”  It  is  too  soon  to  say  what  the  new  Diet 
will  prove  to  be;  its  brief  existence  seems  to  have 
been  composed  equally  of  good  and  bad  elements 
■ — of  acts  which  promise  and  acts  which  threaten. 
Twenty  years  ago  it  was  a capital  offence  to  present 
a petition  ; now  the  impeachment  of  ministers  is 
glibly  discussed.  The  most  striking . political 
development  of  the  last  few  years,  however,  has 
undoubtedly  been  the  revival  of . anti -foreign 
feeling.  Foreigners  themselves  — or,  perhaps, 
more  justly,  foreign  governments — are  to  blame 
for  this,  but  it  is  a fact  of  the  first  importance; 
The  feeling  uppermost  in  the  mind  of  every 
politically-disposed  Japanese  of  to-day  toward  the 
W estern  peoples  whose  civilization  he  is  sup- 
posed to  be  envying  and  imitating,  is  resentment 
and  anger.  The  old  cry  of  Jo-i! — “Expel  the 
barbarian  ! ” — has  been  raised  again  ; foreigners 
have  been  openly  insulted  in  the  streets  ; one 
minister  has  been  assassinated,  and  one  crippled 
by  a dynamite  bomb  for  this  cause  ; anti-foreign 
societies,  under  such  names  as  Kokti-sui  Hozon 
— “Preservation  of  the  National  Excellencies” — 
have  sprung  up,  and  are  described  as  “ a whole- 
some revolt  against  self-effacement,”  while  the 
most  sober  and  thoughtful  newspapers  calmly 


THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN, 


353 


State  that  “ her  political  future  is  a problem  the 
solution  of  which  Japan  reserves  for  herself.” 
After  a public  meeting  of  members  of  the  foreign 
community  of  Yokohama  to  protest  against  the 
revision  of  the  treaties  in  the  interest  of  Japan, 
the  local  authorities  caused  the  leaders  of  the 
meeting  to  be  personally  guarded  afterwards  by 
Japanese  policemen.  This  proceeding  rather 
suggests  offering  a defaulting  debtor  the  services 
of  one’s  own  solicitor,  but  it  shows  how  much  the 
authorities  themselves  fear  an  outbreak  of  anti- 
foreign  feeling.  And  since  this  tide  of  feeling 
turned,  each  minister  who  has  tried  to  conduct  the 
Treaty  Revision  negotiations  has  gone  down  before 
it.  It  is  now  fairly  safe  to  prophesy  that  unless  a 
change  comes  over  both  parties  to  these  negotia- 
tions, the  Japanese  people  will  “denounce”  the 
treaties  and  defy  the  nations  which  enforced  and 
desire  to  maintain  them.  That  is,  they  will 
practically  say,  “ The  lesson  we  have  learned 
from  you  is  to  repudiate  you.”  I repeat,  it  will 
be  our  own  fault,  but  the  fact  will  remain.  The 
bearing  of  all  this  upon  the  future  of  Japan  is 
obvious. 

It  is,  perhaps,  open  to  inquiry,  after  all,  how 
far  the  startling  adoption  of  Western  manners, 


354 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


methods,  and  institutions, . upon  which  the  uni 
versal  admiration  of  Japan  is  chiefly  based,  is  the 
result  of  intelligent  appreciation,  and  how  far  it 
springs  from  a national  quality  of  versatile  imita- 
tion. The  former  is  the  condition  of  education, 
whether  of  individuals  or  nations ; the  latter 
reaches  its  highest  development  in  children  and 
monkeys.  “ The  Japanese  think  to  raise  them- 
selves in  Western  estimation  by  donning  tall  hats 
and  frock-coats,”  wrote  even  their  most  friendly 
critic.  “ They  would  rise  more  quickly  by 
dressing  their  thoughts  in  European  fashion.” 
It  goes  without  saying  that  there  are  plenty  of 
educated  Japanese  who  understand  the  difference 
perfectly.  Here,  for  example,  is  an  admirable 
defence  made  by  the  Hochi  Shimbun  against  the 
charge  of  mere  imitation  as  regards  the  new  Con- 
stitution : “ Any  young  country  recognizing  that 
for  a nation  of  advanced  opinions  and  sentiments 
a constitutional  form  of  government  is  the  best, 
cannot  choose  but  borrow  models  from  the  older 
states  of  Europe.  In  point  of  fact,  the  English 
constitutional  system  has  furnished  a model  for 
the  constitutions  of  all  other  countries.  There- 
fore a people  contemplating  the  establishment  of 
a Constitution  must  commence  by  studying  the 


THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN, 


355 


English  polity,  and  then  decide  for  itself  what  to 
adopt  and  what  to  reject.  We  may  go  farther 
and  say  that  any  country  possessing  a Constitution 
should  be  regarded  as  a teacher  capable  of  im- 
parting valuable  instruction.  We  in  Japan  can 
derive  our  materials  from  England,  America, 
Germany,  France,  Austria,  and  Italy.  To  supply 
her  own  deficiencies  from  the  excellencies  of 
others  is  the  prime  aim  of  our  country’s  emergence 
from  old-time  isolation.  There  is  no  disgrace 
but  rather  credit  in  imitating  what  we  deem 
superior,  and  it  is  our  statesmen’s  duty  to  evolve 
a suitable  Constitution  for  Japan  by  prudent 
eclecticism.”  But  innumerable  small  instances 
from  everyday  life  in  Japan  must  lead  the  ob- 
server to  suspect  that  by  whatever  motives  the 
few  may  be  actuated,  the  many  imitate  for  imita- 
tion’s sake.  I recall  a couple  of  ludicrous  incidents 
of  this  kind.  A certain  Mr.  Kichiemon,  a wealthy 
merchant  of  Osaka,  desired  to  celebrate  the  two- 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  Wakeko  copper  mine 
coming  into  the  possession  of  his  family.  The 
plan  he  finally  adopted  was  to  present  each  of  his 
three  hundred  employes  with  a swallow  - tail 
coat ! And  another  gentleman,  Mr.  Hegozaemon, 
who  had  fallen  in  with  the  habit  of  the  New 


356 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


Years  Day  call  (imitated  from  the  Americans), 
improved  upon  it  by  leaving  on  his  doorstep  a 
large  box  with  a lid,  and  this  notice  above  it : 
'‘To  Visitors.  I am  out,  but  I wish  you  a Happy 
New  Year  all  the  same.  N.B. — Please  drop 

your  New  Years  presents  into  the  box.”  The 
following  notice,  which  hangs  outside  a well-known 
tobacco-shop,  may  have  been  copied  from  the 
methods  of  Messrs.  Pears,  but  it  has  a wise 
practicality  as  well  : “ When  we  first  opened  our 
tobacco  store  at  Tokyo,  our  establishment  was 
patronized  by  Miss  Nakakoshi,  a celebrated 
beauty  of  Inamato-ro,  Shin-yoshiwara,  and  she 
would  only  smoke  tobacco  purchased  at  our  store. 
Through  her  patronage  our  tobacco  became 
widely  known,  so  we  call  it  by  the  name  of  Ima 
Nakakoshi.  And  we  beg  to  assure  the  public 
that  it  is  as  fragrant  and  sweet  as  the  young  lady 
herself.  Try  it  and  you  will  find  our  words  prove 
true.”  Having  once  begun  this  tempting  subject, 
it  is  difficult  not  to  drop  one’s  argument  and  give 
pages  like  the  above.  I will  exercise  a rigorous 
self-control,  however,  and  stop  with  one  more. 
Over  a pastry-cook’s  shop  in  Tokyo  I saw  this 
announcement : “ Cakes  and  Infections.” 

In  commercial  matters  the  Japanese  have 


THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN. 


357 


exhibited  their  imitativeness  in  the  most  extra- 
ordinary degree.  Almost  everything  they  have 
once  bought,  from  beer  to  bayonets  and  from 
straw  hats  to  heavy  ordnance,  they  have  since 
learned  to  make  for  themselves.  There  is  hardly 
a well-known  European  trade-mark  that  you  do 
not  find  fraudulently  imitated  in  Japan.  The 
history  of  Japanese  national  finance  is  a romantic 
model  of  probity  and  financial  genius,  yet  every 
European  merchant  who  deals  with  Japanese 
merchants  tells  you  that,  in  matters  of  business, 
they  are  dishonest  and  untrustworthy.  Many  of 
their  great  commercial  enterprises,  such  as  Mr. 
Iwasaki’s  coal  mines,  or  the  Nippon  Yusen 
Kaisha — one  of  the  most  prosperous  and  ad- 
mirably-managed great  steamship  lines  of  the 
world — are  equal  in  every  respect  to  the  best 
elsewhere.  Yet  how  absurd  these  same  people 
can  be  in  simple  matters  of  business  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that,  when  Mr.  Iwasaki  presented  the 
sum  of  10,000  yen  for  charitable  purposes  to 
celebrate  the  promulgation  of  the  Constitution, 
the  committee,  in  whose  hands  it  was  placed, 
distributed  it  among  36,338  families,  giving  them 
17*27  sen,  or  less  than  sixpence  apiece!  The 
commercial  future  of  Japan,  too,  is  a matter  of 


358  ^ THE  REAL  JAPAN. 

peculiar  uncertainty.  Three  years  ago  there 
were  76,000  cotton-spindles  working  in  Japan, 
and  117,000  more  building.  Yet  Rein  reported 
officially  to  the  German  Government  that  Japan 
would  be  productive  of  no  great  commercial 
fortunes. 

The  art  of  Japan  has  perhaps  more  than  • 
anything  else  to  do  with  the  question  of  her 
future,  although  this  is  not  apparent  at  first  sight. 
But,  as  has  been  truly  said,  “ Japan  owes  the 
place  she  holds  in  Occidental  esteem  to  her  art, 
and  to  her  art  only.”  This  is  at  first  a hard 
saying,  but  the  more  it  is  considered,  the  truer 
it  will  be  seen  to  be.  Now  there  is  no  manner 
of  doubt  that  the  history  of  Japanese  art  for  the 
last  twenty  years  shows  a marked  degradation. 
And,  unless  some  almost  miraculous  inspiration 
should  arise  to  arrest  this  process,  there  can  also 
be  no  doubt  that  each  additional  step  in  the 
direction  of  Western  civilization  will  mean 
another  step  in  the  degradation  of  Japanese  art. 
It  was  the  product  of  the  unique  conditions  of 
the  past ; the  conditions  of  the  future  will  be 
directly  inimical  to  it.  Indeed,  the  Japanese  are 
often  jealous  of  Western  praise  of  their  art,  and 
seem  even  desirous  of  hastening  its  natural  decay 


THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN. 


359 


by  the  quicklime  of  ridicule  and  criticism.  “In 
respect  of  Japanese  civilization,”  says  a recent 
Japanese  writer,  “the  fine  arts  have  been  of  little 
value.  On  the  contrary,  their  influence  has  been 
pernicious.  When  a Japanese  painter  has  to 
depict  a house,  he  shows  you  a dilapidated  shanty 
among  ragged  plum-trees,  and  bids  you  believe 
that  a truly  cultured  taste  loves  to  gaze  upon  the 
moon  from  such  a hovel  while  the  rain  patters  on 
the  crumbling  roof.  If  he  has  to  limn  a landscape 
he  will  show  you  a thatched  cottage  among  moun- 
tains, thus  teaching  you  that  the  acme  of  human 
happiness  is  to  live,  with,  perhaps,  a solitary 
companion — the  cottage  is  not  big  enough  for 
three — in  some  isolated  region,  on  a frugal  diet 
of  water,  vegetables,  and  acorns.  From  a 
poetical,  from  a musical,  from  an  industrial  point 
of  view,  Japanese  art  is  opposed  to  the  spirit  of 
active  enterprise.  It  inculcates  a taste  for  seclu- 
sion, for  poverty,  and  for  restfulness.  Such  an 
art  can  only  run  counter  to  the  progress  of 
civilization,  obstruct  the  growth  of  industry,  and 
chill  the  courage  of  the  nation.  Before  Hide- 
yoshi’s  day  the  people  of  Japan  were  not  so  tame 
and  simple  in  respect  of  politics  and  enterprise 
as  they  are  now.  The  development  of  the  fine 


360 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


arts  after  his  time  has  unquestionably  retarded 
the  practical  education  of  the  people.  Remember 
. . . that  the  horse  is  kept  to  carry  loads  ; that 
the  ox  is  well  fed  for  dragging  heavy  carts ; that 
the  silk-worm  is  regaled  upon  mulberry  leaves  in 
order  that  he  may  be  robbed  of  his  cocoon,  and 
that  the  white  race,  desiring  to  appropriate  the 
rest  of  the  world,  admire  the  art  of  Japan,  and 
would  have  the  Japanese  lead  the  hermit-like, 
star-gazing  existence  prescribed  by  that  art.  As 
for  us,  we  would  ungrudgingly  exchange  all  our 
fine  arts  for  the  envied  civilization  of  Europe.  . . 
A foreigner  reared  among  the  surroundings  of 
Western  civilization  is  probably  so  infatuated 
with  our  fine  arts  that  he  believes  them  a replicai 
of  the  Garden  of  Eden,  a manifestation  of  divine 
inspiration,  the  acme  of  aesthetic  conception.  So 
we,  on  our  side,  admire  the  activity  and  enterprise 
of  the  white  race,  and  envy  their  wholesome  and 
comfortable  manner  of  living.”  Such  sentiments 
as  these  bode  ill  for  the  future  of  Japan,  and  no 
wonder  that  they  provoked  Captain  Brinkley  to 
this  retort : “It  would  be  an  everlasting  pity  if 
the  chief  endowment  of  her  people,  their  wonder- 
fully artistic  instincts  and  their  not  less  wonderful 
facility  in  expressing  them,  were  left  unutilized 


THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN.  361 

because  a party  of  fanatical  radicals  deemed  it 
necessary  to  commit  national  suicide  in  order  to 
be  re-born  into  the  comity  of  Occidental  Powers.’" 
The  “ everlasting  ” element  in  our  pity  if  this 
thing  happened  to  Japan,  would  lie  in  its  being 
acre  perennitts — it  would  have  to  take  the  form  of 
a monument  and  an  epitaph,  for  whatever  new 
country  might  arise  in  its  stead,  there  would  be 
no  more  Japan. 

These  are  some  of  the  considerations  which 
must  influence  the  student  of  Japan  when  he 
considers  the  question  of  her  future.  They  are 
so  difficult  to  appraise  accurately,  and  often  so 
contradictory,  that,  whatever  opinion  he  may 
form  for  himself,  he  will  hardly  venture  to 
express  it  with  much  confidence  for  others. 
All  he  will  be  inclined  to  say  is  that  the  future 
of  Japan  is  uncertain — that  it  exhibits  more 
uncertainty,  I mean,  than  attaches  to  the  evolu- 
tion of  human  affairs  in  general.  And  yet,  in 
conclusion,  we  have  not  in  the  foregoing  even 
touched  upon  the  one  vital  problem  conditioning 
the  future  of  Japan.  Let  us  admit,  for  the 
moment,  as  it  may  well  prove  to  be  the  case, 
that  Japan  will  succeed  in  sloughing  off'  whatever 
innate  qualities  of  orientalism  and  barbarism  she 


362 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


may  possess  ; that  her  hampering  superstitions 
will  drop  from  her  one  by  one  ; that  her  politics 
will  evolve  into  a perfect  mechanism  for  the 
adequate  and  sole  expression  of  her  people’s  will, 
and  for  the  due  realization  of  that  will  in  institu- 
tion and  administration  ; that  she  will  learn  to 
regard  other  peoples  with  dispassionate  criticism 
and  appreciation  ; that  she  will  intelligently  adapt 
and  adopt  more  and  more  whatever  is  excellent 
whenever  she  may  find  it,  and  slavishly  and 
childishly  imitate  less  and  less  ; that  her  art  will 
again  become  the  natural  and  delightful  outcome 
of  a unique  national  artistic  endowment  ; that  her 
commerce  and  manufacture  will  grow  to  equal 
those  of  European  nations  ; that  her  social  life 
will  come  to  be  organized  and  inspired  by  the 
best  examples — let  us  admit,  in  a word,  that  the 
Japan  of  the  future  will  exhibit  a “ civilization  ” 
equal  to  our  own,  superior  to  it,  if  you  please. 
Will  she  even  then  be  a gainer  by  the  change  ? 
That  is,  will  the  mass  of  the  Japanese  people  be 
healthier  and  happier  ? — there  is  no  other  ques- 
tion worth  considering  for  a moment.  The  Japan 
of  the  past,  “ satellite  of  that  great  fixed  star,  her 
neighbour,”  with  her  feudalism  and  her  despotism, 
her  social  ladder  of  Shi-no-ko-sho — ‘^soldier. 


THE  FUTURE  OF  JAPAN.  363 

farmer,  mechanic,  merchant,”  in  which  the  latter 
ranked  lowest — her  picturesque  and  kindly  super- 
stitions, her  punctilious  code  of  personal  honour 
— the  most  exalted  in  many  ways  that  the  world 
has  'ever  known,  her  utter  regardlessness  of 
human  life  in  comparison  with  other  things  she 
valued  more,  her  art — the  product  and  distributor 
of  joy,  her  elaborate  and  refined  ceremonials  of 
social  intercourse — the  Japan  of  the  past  was 
happy.  The  first  Englishman  who  visited  her, 
on  April  19,  1600,  old  William  Adams  from 
Jellingham,  wrote:  “The  people  are  good  of 
nature,  courteous  out  of  measure,  and  valiant  in 
war.”  What  could  any  nation  desire  further  to 
be  ? Even  to-day  the  remnants  of  old  Japan 
bewitch  the  eyes  and  the  tongues  of  all  who  go 
to  her — no  words  can  paint  the  mind  of  the 
traveller  whom  favouring  winds  carry  to  her 
shores  so  well  as  the  immortal  description  of  the 
other  earthly  paradise  of  old  : — 

Whoso  has  tasted  the  honey-sweet  fruit  from  the  stem  of  the 
lotus,  ' 

Never  once  wishes  to  leave  it,  and  never  once  seeks  to  go 
homeward : 

There  would  he  stay,  if  he  could,  content  with  the  eaters  of  lotus. 
Plucking  and  eating  the  lotus,  forgetting  that  he  was  returning.”^ 


^ Quoted  and  translated  by  Sir  Edwin  Arnold. 


3^4 


THE  REAL  JAPAN. 


When  Japan  rings  with  the  rattle  of  machinery; 
when  the  railway  has  become  a feature  of  her 
scenery ; when  the  boiler-chimney  has  defaced 
her  choicest  spots  as  the  paper-makers  have 
already  obliterated  the  delights  of  Oji ; when  the 
traditions  of  yasJiiki  and  shizoku  alike  are  all 
finally  engulfed  in  the  barrack-room  ; when  her 
art  reckons  its  output  by  the  thousand  dozen ; 
when  the  power  in  the  land  is  shared  between 
the  politician  and  the  plutocrat ; -when  the  peasant 
has  been  exchanged  for  the  “ factory  hand,”  the 
kimono  for  the  slop-suit,  the  tea-house  for  the 
music-hall,  the  geisha  for  the  lion  comiqtie^  and 
the  daimio  for  the  beer-peer — will  Japan  then 
have  made  a wise  bargain,  and  will  she,  looking 
backward,  date  a happier  era  from  the  day  we 
forced  our  acquaintance  upon  her  at  the  cannon’s 
mouth  ? Those  who  are  satisfied  with  our  own 
state  and  prospects  will  answer  easily  in  the  affir- 
mative. For  my  part,  I have  been  too  happy  in 
what  remains  of  old  Japan,  and  too  unhappy  in 
what  is  growing  out  of  “ civilization,”  to  be 
prompt  with  my  “Yes.” 


;■ 


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T,'.  - 


A- 


